136 ODOROGRAPHIA. 
in sheltered places in the neighbourhood of Weymouth, he gathered 
a quantity of the plant while in full bloom in August, and having 
dried it at the ordinary temperature in the air, distilled it entire, 
leaves, flowers, and stalks, with water; then by washing the dis- 
tillate with ether, and evaporating the ether, obtained about 0-2 
per cent. of pure melilotol in the form of a brownish oil giving an 
acid reaction, slightly soluble in water and very soluble in alcohol 
and ether. 
Melilotol is of an extremely agreeable odour, not precisely that 
of coumarin, but exactly resembling that of recently cut hay or 
dried Anthoxanthum odoratum. He therefore infers that the odour 
of dried melilotus and that of the hayfield is principally due to 
melilotol and not to coumarin. By boiling melilotol with a con- 
centrated solution of caustic potash melilotic acid is formed, and 
a slight odour of bitter almonds given off. Phipson’s analysis of 
melilotol resulted in figures agreeing exactly with the formula 
C,H,O,; that of coumarin being C,H,O,. He does not deny 
the existence of coumarin ready formed in the plant, but affirms 
that the sweet odour is due to melilotol, and that melilotie acid, 
C,H,,O3, also exists in the plant, especially in the month of 
August ; the theory being that coumarin is first formed earlier in 
the year, and then by the action of nascent hydrogen is converted 
into melilotol, which, in turn, taking up two equivalents of water 
is converted into melilotic acid. In confirmation of this theory :— 
If coumarin be subjected to the action of nascent hydrogen (by 
sodium amalgam) melilotic acid is formed, the reaction not 
stopping at melilotol, but taking up the 2 equivalents of water as 
fast as they are liberated. 
To prepare coumarin from substances which contain it in an 
uncombined state,—exhaust with alcohol, distil off the alcohol 
from the filtered tinctures, and let the remnant erystallize and 
re-crystallize in water or alcohol with addition of animal charcoal. 
It forms brilliant, colourless, silky needles and leaflets of very 
aromatic odour, which fuse at 67° to 67°:5, boil at 270°, and sub- 
lime unaltered. It is of neutral reaction, dissolves scarcely in 
cold, readily in boiling water, most readily in alcohol, volatile, 
and fixed oils. It erystallizes from boiling water in small rhombic 
plates. By fusion with caustic potash it yields salicylic acid. 
The solubility of coumarin in alcohol of various strengths and 
