DESTRUCTIVE DISTILLATION OF ANIMAL SUBSTANCES. 227 
soluble in absolute alcohol. Two analyses were made of the platinum compound 
of this base, the one from a portion collected at the commencement, the other to- 
wards the end of the distillation, which show that the product was of uniform 
composition throughout. The results were as follows :— 
6-440 grains of platinochloride gave . 
I 2-480 «+ carbonic acid, and 
1:920° ++ water. 
11: an grains of platinochloride gave 
carbonic acid, and 
| 43 3° = 1. water. 
Lf 4385 grains of platinochloride gave 
1705 ~~... ~— platinum, 
; i, { 8580 grains of platinochloride gave 
2575 ... platinum. 
Experiment. Calculation. 
—————_—_——_ — 
ie I. 
Carbon, F : ‘ 10°29 9°75 9:55 C, 24 
- Hydrogen, . - - 331 3°26 2°78 Hi, 8 
Nitrogen, : é s ats AS6 5-99 N 14 
‘ Chlorine, a : = Bs ee 42-39 Cl, 106-5 
Platinum, =. é 5 38°88 39:23 39:29 P 98-7 
100-00 251-2 
Its formula, therefore, is C, H, N HCl Pt Ch, and the base itself is ethylamine. 
The base obtained by the distillation of the ethylopicoline alone was found to 
have the same composition, for 6177 grains of its platinum salt gave 2413 grains 
of platinum, equal to 39°06 per cent. 
The decomposition which thus occurs is very remarkable, and differs 1 sae 
from that observed by Horrman in the ammonium bases examined by him. The 
oxide of tetrethylammonium, for instance, is not decomposed when evaporated 
in vacuo. Even at 212° it undergoes no change until it becomes nearly dry, but 
then a base and a permanent gas are evolved, the former being triethylamine, 
and the latter olefiant gas. In this case, one out of the four ethyl atoms which 
the complex base contained is decomposed, and the other three remain with the 
ammonia in the form of a nitryl base; in fact we may fairly assume that the 
atom of ethyl added to the triethylamine to convert it into tetrethylammonium 
is decomposed, and the base which formed the starting-point of that action is 
regenerated. With methethylopicoline the case is different; we start, indeed, 
from a nitryl base, but in place of reproducing it in the decomposition, the atom 
of ethyl which has been added takes possession of the ammonia, and produces an 
amide base, leaving the radicals, which we must assume to have replaced the 
three atoms of hydrogen in the ammonia from which the picoline was originally 
produced, in some other form of combination. In another point, also, the decom- 
VOL. XXI. PART I. 3P 
