42 
water; and, when both solutions have cooled to 80°, mix, and 
having then added the fusel oil, shake the mixture, and continue 
the agitation until the temperature, which at first rises to 150°, 
has fallen to 70° or 80°. Draw over now by distillation about 
half a gallon of liquid, and having saturated this with caustic 
soda, and separated any unoxidated fusel oil, evaporate down 
to about the bulk of four ounces, and, placing the valerianate 
of soda in a retort, with an equivalent quantity of oil of vitriol 
diluted with twice its bulk of water, again distil. The vale- 
rianic acid thus obtained, when rendered anhydrous by the 
usual methods, was found to have the same chemical composi- 
tion, specific gravity, and boiling point, with the acid extracted 
directly from the root of the valerian, so that there*gan be no 
doubt of their identity. 
The fusel oil used in his experiments is found in the spent 
wash of the distillers, from which it may be separated by con- 
tinuing the distillation after the spirit has ceased to come over. 
The discovery of it in this liquid Dr. Apjohn stated that he 
communicated to the Academy so far back as the year 1840. 
The valerianates of zinc, quina, and iron, should be pre- 
pared from the valerianate of soda by double decomposition. 
The valerianate of zine may also be made by neutralizing va- 
lerianic acid with the hydrated carbonate of zinc; but this 
direct method is scarcely applicable in the case of the two 
other salts. 
Dr. Apjohn, in conclusion, stated that he did not claim to 
be original in converting fusel oil into valerianic acid, such hay- 
ing been previously effected through the agency of potash. 
At the time, however, he first accomplished this metamorpho- 
sis (November, 1847), by the oxidating influence of chromic 
acid, he was not aware that such method had been tried by any 
other chemist ; and the attempts since made on the Continent 
would seem{not to have been very successful, as Regnault, in 
his fourth volume, not long since published, immediately after 
describing a process of this kind, observes, ‘‘ that the best 
