1869.] Chemistry. 277 



produced. The ehlor hydrate of this base crystalHzes in hygroscopic 

 tables, which become brown on exposure to the air. It appears 

 that all fermented liquors contain the new alkaloid, or at least one 

 of its compounds. The presence of such a substance in wine and in 

 beer, till now entirely unknown, will doubtless explain certain effects 

 of fermented liquors on the animal economy — effects which cannot 

 be attributable to alcohol alone. 



Proceedings of the Chemical Society. 



The first meeting of the season took place on Thursday, Nov. 5, 

 1868, Dr. W. A. Miller, V.P.R.S., &c., Vice-President, in the chair. 



The first paper read was by Mr. W. H. Perkin, " On the 

 Hydi-ide of Butyro-Sahcyl and Butyric-Coumaric Acid." The 

 author's previous communications had shown that hydride of aceto- 

 salicyl is an intermediate stage in the formation of coumarin from 

 acetic anhydride and hydride of sodium-salicyl. By the substitution 

 of other anhydrides for the acetic, he had obtained homologues of 

 coumarin, and he now describes the hydride of butyro-salicyl, which 

 forms the intermediate stage in the synthesis of butyric coumarin, 

 as hydride of aceto-salicyl does in that of ordinary coumarin. It 

 is an oil boiling at 260^-270° C. Hydrate of potassium decomposes 

 it into hydride of potassium-salicyl and butyrate of potassium, and 

 it yields mth acetic anhydride a compound perfectly parallel with 

 those produced by the action of the anhydride on the hydrides of 

 ethyl-salicyl, aceto-salicyl, &c. When boiled with butyric anhydride 

 and butyrate of sodium it yields butyric coumarin. By the action 

 of hyd]:ate of potassium, butyric coumarin yields butyric-coumaric 

 acid, a true homologue of ordinary coumaric acid, and, like it, capable 

 of yielding only monometallic derivatives. 



The next was one " On the Application of Chlorine Gas to the 

 Toughening and Eefining of Gold," by F. B. Miller, F.C.S., Assayer 

 in the Sydney branch of the Eoyal Mint. The methods now in use 

 for effecting the above ]3urposes are all more or less unsatisfactory, 

 and the author has therefore devised a process which appears to satisfy 

 all the requhements of the case in a single operation. A French 

 clay crucible is saturated with borax. The gold is then melted in this 

 crucible with a little borax, and a stream of chlorine gas is allowed 

 to pass through it by means of a tobacco-pipe stem. In a few 

 hours the whole of the silver is converted into chloride, which floats 

 on the gold. The borax prevents the absorption of the chloride by 

 the crucible, and also its volatilization, except in very minute quan- 

 tities. As soon as the gold has become solid, the still liquid chloride 

 of silver is poured off, and the gold is now found to have a fineness 

 of say 993 parts in 1000. The apparent loss of gold is very little 



VOL. VI. u 



