Su 
ODOUR OF THE HAYFIELDS. 13 
at various temperatures has been found by Schimmel & Co. to be as 
follows :— 
| dissolve | 
100 parts of alcohol . =| 
| at 0° C. | at 16° to17°C. | at 29° to 30° C. 
| to te eee eee = 
of 90 vol. per cent. 71 parts 13:7 parts 42:5 parts 
80 es Gor La ao 5 
70 ” 44, ot 260 
60 ” 32 yy 6-0 ” 160 ,, 
50 ¥ LEY dae 4 5 so" 5 
40 ” O7 ” 15 ” SO 552] 
3 ” 03 ” 06 ”? 17 ” 
20 - 02 ,, 04 4 Os ,, 
10 os OS) 5, 025" -, O's 
100 parts of water 0 bee ae 018 ,, O2i;; 
Coumarin is readily soluble in vaselin. 
The announcement of the artificial preparation of coumarin was 
made by Perkin in a paper read before the Chemical Society 
16th May, 1867. He succeeded in forming it by causing sodium- 
salicylol to react on acetic anhydride, in which it dissolves with 
considerable evolution of heat*. When the violence of the re- 
action moderates, the mixture is boiled for a few moments, then, 
on the addition of water, an oil separates and floats on the surface. 
On distilling this oil, there first passes over a little acetic anhy- 
dride, then a little salicylol, and finally coumarin, which crystal- 
lizes on cooling in the receiver. He obtained it even more simply 
by gently heating for some hours a mixture of 3 parts salicylic 
aldehyde, 5 parts acetic anhydride, and 4 parts of sodium acetate ; 
the whole solidifies on cooling to a crystalline mass, from which, 
on treating it with water, there separates an oil smelling of acetic 
acid and coumarin. An ethereal solution of this oil, when shaken 
with a solution of sodium carbonate, gives up thereto a crystal- 
lizable acid, whilst coumarin remains dissolved in the ether. The 
acid dissolves easily in hot water, alcohol, and ether, and crystal- 
lizes from water in white needles which melt at 146°, and have 
the composition of acetylcoumaric acid. 
When acetylecoumaric acid is gently heated above its melting- 
* Journ. Ch. Soe, xxi. pp. 53, 181. 
