A NEW OBGANIC BASE FROM COAL-TAR. 129 



Odorin, obtained by Unterdoeben* from DippeFs animal oil. According to this 

 chemist, Dippel's oil, which is obtained by several successive distillations of the 

 oleum cornu cervi, is a mixture of four different bases, to which he gives the 

 names of Odorin, Animin, Olanin, and Ammolin. Of these, the two first constitute 

 nineteen-twentieths of the whole oil, and the odorin, which resembles picoline in 

 its solubility in water, is obtained by simply distilling the oil and collecting the 

 product as long as it dissolves. These results, however, have been called in 

 question by subsequent observers ; Reichenbach, especially, asserts that he was 

 unable to separate any basic compounds, and considers the substances obtained 

 by Unveedorben to be mixtures of empyreumatic oil with ammonia. As, how- 

 ever, the properties which Unveedorben has attributed to odorin, approximate 

 in some respects to those of picoline, I thought it desirable to ascertain the ex- 

 istence of this substance, and whether or not it is identical with picoline. In 

 order to prepare odorin, I rectified the oleum cornu cervi, and then distiUed the 

 product ; but on allowing the first drops of oil to faU into water, they were not 

 dissolved as Unveedoeben has asserted, but floated unchanged upon the surface. 

 Finding this process unsuccessful, I agitated the crude oil with dilute sulphuric 

 acid ; the acid fluid immediately acquired a very deep reddish-brown colour, and 

 when separated from the oil, and supersaturated with potass, a semisolid viscid 

 mass separated from the fluid. This, when distUled with water, yielded a mix- 

 ture of several oily bases, while a dark coloured resinous substance, probably 

 Unveedobben's Fuscin, was left in the retort. The mixed bases which I thus 

 obtained, formed an exceedingly small fraction of the oil employed. They were 

 purified by several successive rectifications, and generally in a method similar to 

 that employed for picoline, and the first portions of the product collected apart. 

 It then constituted a colourless oil which became brown in the air, dissolved 

 readily in water, and presented an odour similar to, though not quite the same 

 as, that of picoUne. It gave with chloride of gold a dirty yellow precipitate, 

 which dissolved in hot water, and deposited, on cooling, in the pulverulent form, 

 and with bichloride of platinum, a compound in red wart-hke crystals. By an ac- 

 cident in the laboratory, the small quantity of this substance which I had pre- 

 pared for analysis was destroyed, so that the evidence of their identity cannot be 

 considered as suflicient. The characters of odorin, as given by Unveedorben, 

 are not perfectly identical, either with those of picoline, or the base which I ob- 

 tained. Odorin, according to Unverdorben, boils at about 212°, and its salts are 

 oleaginous compounds which distil in the form of an oUy fluid, whereas those of 

 picoline are mostly crystaUizable. I am at present engaged with the examina- 

 tion of these substances. 



It is obvious, from the observations contained in Hoffman's! paper, that 



* Poggendorfs Annalen, vol. xi. t Liebig's Annalen, vol. xlvii. 



