
DESTRUCTIVE DISTILLATION OF ANIMAL SUBSTANCES. 251 
cipated, and proportionably much smaller than that obtained when operating 
on a much smaller scale before; and I consequently found myself compelled to 
proceed very carefully, so as to avoid loss in the purification. By distilling the 
product which boiled under 212°, I collected fractions nearly equal in bulk at 
every five degrees, all very similar in their general properties. They were 
all limpid and colourless fiuids, with high refractive power, and pungent odour, 
remarkably similar to that. of ammonia in the lower fractions. They fumed 
strongly when a rod moistened with hydrochloric acid was brought near them, 
and presented all the properties of powerful bases. Exposed in the anhydrous 
‘state to a mixture of snow and salt, they remain perfectly fluid, but if a small 
quantity of water be added, beautiful white crystals of a hydrate are deposited. 
I attempted, by several successive distillations, to obtain fixed boiling points; but 
the quantity I had to work with was too small for an operation involving so much 
loss of material, and I therefore converted portions of the fractions which I had 
reason to suspect corresponded with particular bases into platinum salts. I 
selected, in the first place, the lowest fraction of all, that, namely, which boiled 
under 150°. It was dissolved in water, saturated with hydrochloric acid, and 
evaporated to dryness on the water-bath. The highly crystalline residue obtained 
was dissolved in water, and mixed with a solution of bichloride of platinum, 
when a yellow crystalline salt was slowly deposited, which dissolved readily in 
water even in the cold, and still more abundantly on boiling; and the solution on 
cooling deposited fine golden scales, scarcely to be distinguished in their appear- 
ance from those of methylamine or of petinine. These crystals were separated, 
and as the salt was highly soluble, and much remained in the mother liquor, 
a mixture of alcohol and ether was added, when the fiuid rapidly filled with 
small shining scales. The analysis of this salt dried at 212° gave the following 
results :— 
3°392 ... of carbonic acid, and 
6-970 grains of platinochloride gave 
{33% ... of water. 
6:475 grains of the salt gave 2°422 grains platinum. 
. 3:047 


8-257 
Experiment. Calculation. 
SS ————— a 
Carbon, ; 13:27 als 13°57 C, 36 
Hydrogen, . ; 3:88 aie 3°77 Leva ell 
Nitrogen, . : ane wae 5°27 N 14 
Chlorine, . é He non 40-18 Cl, 1065 
Platinum, . E 37:56 cos 37°21 Pt 98-7 
100-00 265°2 
From these results we arrive at the formula C,H,N HCl Pt Cl,, which is that 
of the platinum salt of a base C,H, N. The base is therefore the substance I have 
VOL. XX. PART II. 3 Y 
