318 Intelligence ajid Miscellaneous Articles. 



hour in concentrated hydrochloric acid, gave a solution which yielded 

 no crystals on cooling. 



The liquid being evaporated to a syrupy consistence yielded cry- 

 stalUne laminse, which were very soluble in water, and deliquesced 

 by exposure to the air. M. Piria at first thought he had obtained 

 the new acid mentioned by Liebig ; but he found it was aspartic 

 acid, and that the liquid contained sal-ammoniac. Aspartic acid 

 treated in the same way yielded crystalline laminse of the acid un- 

 changed, but the solution contained no sal-ammoniac. 



It appears, therefore, that concentrated hydrochloric acid when 

 heated converts asparagin into aspartic acid and ammonia, and by 

 combining with the latter forms sal-ammoniac ; the hydrochloric acid 

 renders the aspartic acid soluble, without it the acid is scarcely soluble 

 in cold water. 



Aspartic acid retains hydrochloric acid even after evaporation to 

 dryness and heated to 212°; this dissolved in water abundantly pre- 

 cipitates nitrate of silver. 'J"he substance which M. Liebig supposed* 

 to be a new acid is a concentrated solution of aspartic and hydro- 

 chloric acids. With nitric acid, aspartic acid and nitrate of ammonia 

 were obtained ; when pure nitric acid is employed, no nitrous or 

 other gases are evolved. 



Aspartic acid obtained by means of nitric acid gave — 



Experiment. Calculation. 



Carbon 35-99 36-09 



Hydrogen .5-47 5-26 



Nitrogen 10-78 10-53 



Oxygen 47-76 48-12 



100-00 100-00 



The formula is C^ H' N O^, as already determined. 



From these and various other experiments M. Piria has arrived at 

 the following conclusions : — 



1st. Asparagin, discovered by Vauquelin and Robiquet in aspa- 

 ragus, and since in many other vegetables, exists in great abundance 

 in vetches. 



2nd. Asparagin does not pre-exist in the seed, but is developed 

 during germination and vegetation, either in the light or in the dark, 

 and disappears at flowering time. 



3rd. Asparagin, hitherto regarded as a neutral body, possesses an 

 acid reaction, and displaces acetic acid from its combination with 

 oxide of copper ; the compound of which with asparagin has for its 

 formula CuO, C"* H? N'^O*, and proves that asparagin, heated to 

 212° F., that is, till it ceases to lose weight, still contains one equi- 

 valent of water separable by bases. 



4th. Asparagin dissolved in water with the presence of the juice 

 of vetches, undergoes a kind of fermentation, by which it is converted 

 into succinate of ammonia, appropriating four equivalents of hydrogen 

 and two equivalents of oxygen. 



5th. Asparagin, boiled in pure hydrochloric acid, or in nitric acid 

 free from nitrous acid, is converted into ammonia, which remains 

 combined with the acid, and into aspartic acid. When fused with 



