364 DR THOilAS ANDERSON ON CERTAIN PRODUCTS OF DECOMPOSITION 



actions can be examined, so much the more likely are we to arrive at definite 

 results. 



It was the consideration of these points which led me to undertake an inves- 

 tigation into the nature of the action of Sulphur in the free state upon organic 

 compounds, a subject hitherto totally uninvestigated, unless we except the curi- 

 ous researches of Zeise* on the simultaneous action of ammonia and sulphur 

 upon acetone, which yields a variety of remarkable products, the properties of 

 which he has described, without however determining their constitution. The 

 results at which I have already arrived in these researches are contained iu the 

 following pages. They are, however, to be considered only as the commencement 

 of the investigation ; and I am desirous of submitting them to the Society even in 

 their present very imperfect state, as it is impossible to fix a period within which 

 a series of researches, surrounded by so many diflQculties, can be completed. No 

 one who has not been specially occupied with such experiments can have any 

 conception of the numerous sources of annoyance which they present, and of the 

 expenditure of time and labom- which is necessary for their performance. Indeed, 

 I have more than once felt inclined altogether to abandon a subject occupying so 

 much time in proportion to the results obtained, and the completion of which is 

 further protracted by the nauseous odour of the compounds, which is so disgust- 

 ing that it is impossible to pursue the investigation for any length of tune conti- 

 nuously. 



At the commencement of these researches I endeavoured to examine the ac- 

 tion of sulphur upon some of the simpler organic compounds, in the hope of ar- 

 riving at results of corresponding simplicity. My expectations, however, were dis- 

 appointed, and I was obliged to have recourse to the fixed oils, on which sulphur 

 has been long known to exert an action ; the product obtained by heating together 

 olive oil and sulphur until an uniform balsam-Mke substance was fonned, having 

 been employed in medicine by the older physicians under the name of the Balsam 

 of Sulphur. 



The phenomena which manifest themselves during the mutual action of Sul- 

 phur and a Fixed Oil ai-e these : — At the first application of heat the siUphur melts 

 and forms a stratum at the bottom of the oil ; but as the temperature rises it 

 slowly dissolves, with the formation of a thick viscid fiuid of a dark red colour. 

 As the heat approaches that at which the oil undergoes decomposition when 

 heated alone, a violent action takes place attended by the evolution of sulphu- 

 retted hydrogen in such abundance that the viscid mass swells up and occupies a 

 space many times its original bulk. If at this point the mixture be allowed to 

 cool, it concretes into a tough sticky teuaceous mass, adhering strongly to the 

 fingers, and having a disagreeable sulphureous odour ; if, however, the heat be 



* Forhandlingar vid de Skandinaviska Naturforskarnes tiedje mlHe. p. 3U3. 



