68 Royal Society : — 



The deportment of the substance with iodide of methyle and ethyle, 

 which immediately will be mentioned somewhat more in detail, has 

 decided in favour of the former view, and in accordance vnth it the 

 name of the substance has been selected. 



It deserves to be noticed, that there are already two other bases 

 known which have exactly the same composition, the one obtained 

 by M.Natanson in the reaction of bichloride of ethylene upon aniline, 

 and described by him as acetijlaniline, the other discovered by M. 

 Dnsart among the derivatives of nitronaphtaline and designated as 

 phtalidine. It is only necessjiry superficially to glance at the descrip- 

 tion of these bodies in order to see that they are essentially different 

 from ethylene-phenylamiue. The constitution of acetylaniline and 

 phtalidine has not been experimentally fixed. It is jirobable that 

 Natanson's base contains the molecule C^ H3 formerly called acetyle, 

 but for which the more appropriate term vinyle has lately been 

 proposed, while phtalidine probably derives from the hydrocarbon 

 styrole or an isomeric body, so that the difference in the constitution 

 of tl)e three bodies would be expressed in the following formulse : — 



Phtalidine 



Styrylamine (?) I jj; 



C. H3 



Acetylaniline 

 Vinyl-phenylamine 1 "^'" g 



Ethylene-phenyl- f(C,H,)"K. 

 amine \ C^^H. |^^- 



I have already mentioned that the degree of substitution of ethy- 

 lene-phenylamine was fixed by the deportment of this base with iodide 

 of methyle and ethyle, bibromide of ethylene exerting no longer any 

 influence upon it, even by protracted contact, at temperatures varying 

 from 100° to 150° C. 



A mixture of ethylene-phenylamine and iodide of methyle, on the 

 other hand, when exposed for some hours to the temperature of boil- 

 ing water, solidifies to a resinous mass, floating, togetherwith a portion 

 of unchanged base, in the excess of the iodide. Distillation with 

 water separates the excess of iodide of methyle ; and washing with cold 

 water until the filtrate is no longer precipitated by an alkali removes 

 any hydriodate of ethylene-phenylamine formed during the distillation. 

 Lastly, by repeated crystallization of the resinous residue from boil- 

 ing water, to which a small quantity of spirit may be added in the 

 later stages (separation from ethylene-phenylamine), a perfectly cry- 

 stalline, slightly yellowish iodine-comj)ound is obtained, which may 

 be dried without decomposition at 100°. 



On analysis, this iodine-compound was found to have the remark- 



