8TT 



SUCCINIMIDE. 



SUFFICIENT REASON. 



878 



Succinic acid is inodorous and colourless, haa an acid taste, and is 

 very stable. It is very soluble in hot water, moderately so in cold 

 water or alcohol, and only slightly soluble in ether. When heated it 

 fuses at a temperature somewhere about 450 Fahr. ; and above that 

 point sublimes and condenses in a beautifully white crystalline mass 

 of succinic anhydride (C,H 4 O e ) ; complete dehydration can, however, 

 only be effected when the succinic acid has been previously mixed 

 with phosphoric anhydride. Succinic acid is not acted on by nitric 

 acid, chromic acid, chlorine, or even a mixture of hydrochloric acid 

 and chlorate of potash. Heated with caustic potash it yields oxalate 

 of the base and a carburetted hydrogen ; and furnishes acetic acid by 

 distillation with peroxide of manganese and acetic acid. 



Succinates are, for the most part, either neutral salts (2 MO, C B H 4 B ) 

 or acid salts (MO, HO, C,H 4 ). They are tolerably stable, and are 

 characterised by giving a red-brown precipitate with persalts of iron. 



Neutral succinate of potaih contains (2 KO, C 9 H 4 + 4 Aq.); acid 

 luccinate of potash (KO, HO, C,H^O, + 4 Aq.) The latter is the salt 

 contained in wormwood ; it crystallises in regular six-sided prisms, and 

 is prepared by saturating a given quantity of succinic acid with car- 

 bonate of potash, and then adding a second quantity of the acid. 

 "ite of ammonia (2 NH 4 O, C 8 H 4 8 ) is sometimes employed to 

 separate iron from nickel, cobalt, and manganese ; the solutions must 

 be perfectly neutral. Sucrinate of soda has been electrolysed by Kolbe; 

 carbonic acid and oxide of methyl are evolved at the positive pole. 

 Double tuccinate of magnesia and potash contains (KO, MgO, C S H 4 0,,+ 

 5Aq.). 



'mate fif ethyl (succinic ether) (2 C 4 H 5 0, CjH.O,,) is a liquid of 

 specific gravity, 1*030 ; boiling point, 417'2 Fahr.; it ia obtained on 

 distilling succinic acid with alcohol and sulphuric acid ; chlorine con- 

 verts it into white acicular crystals of perchlaroniccinate of prrchlorethyl 

 (chlorosuccinic etherV (2C.C1.O, C.C1.0.). The last-named body, by 

 distillation, yields cklororuccide (C,,C1 4 O..); and by action of alkalies 

 gives a salt containing chlorosuccic acid (C.HC1,0 4 ?). 



.^'//-AontcoBtcactrftSHO.C.HjOj, 2SO + 2Aq.) is produced when 

 anhydrous sulphuric acid and succinic acid are brought into contact. 

 When pure it occurs in granular crystals, very soluble in water, alcohol, 

 or ether ; it is deliquescent, and requires three equivalents of base to 

 Maturate it. 



>'/i/vtiti'e oxy -chloride, or chloride oftiuxinyl (C,H 4 4 CL), is a colourless 

 highly refracting oil, obtained on distilling equivalent quantities of 

 succinic anhydride and oxychloride of phosphorus. It fumes strongly, 

 has a suffocating odour, boils at about 374 Fahr., and has a specific 

 gravity of 1'39. 



*yl (C,H 4 4 )" may be assumed to exist not only in the above 

 compound, but also in all the other members of this group. If it 

 exist* it is diatomic, and plays the part of two equivalents of hydrogen. 

 late amidet are three in number. 1. Sitcciiumide (C.H.N.,0, 



This substance is slowly formed, in colourless 



fC.H 4 4 " 

 = N, < II.. 

 I H. 



crystalline grains, on exposing a mixture of succmate of ethyl with 

 twice ito volume of strong solution of ammonia. It is insoluble in 

 al'nlml or ether, and almost insoluble in cold water; boiling water 

 readily dissolves it, and the solution does not precipitate metallic salts. 



/ I C.H.O; \ 



I'tailide, or diphenyltuccindiamide [ C^H^NjO, = N, < (C...H. \, \ 



\ ( ' 



is the insoluble product of the action of succinic acid upon aniline. 



innmif arid (C,H,NO B ) seems to have been obtained as a silver 



salt, but has not yet been isolated, ^iiccinani/ic acid, or phenylttuxina- 



mic acid, contains (C K) H, 1 NO.-=N j p' 1 ^ *" , HO Y 3. Succinimide, 



or bituecinimide (C,H S NO 4 + 2 Aq.), is a product of the transformation 



of succinamide by heat. It crystallines in beautiful rhombic tables, is 



very soluble in water, less so in alcohol, and slightly so in ether. It 



melU at 4 1 0* Fahr. It is isomeric with succinamic acid, but does not 



ne with potash. Chlorotuccinimide, or c/Jorozosuccic acid (C,HC1 4 



NO,), results from the action of ammonia on chlorosuccinic ether. It 



may be easily separated from other bodies that are simultaneously 



formed, and then occurs in prisms ; it is volatile, soluble in alcohol or 



decomposes carbonates with effervescence. .S'i<ccinai'fe or 



, '"'< ii Ml ,11', H : i.N'O,), is that part of the product of the 



action of succinic acid upon aniline that ia soluble in hot water. 



I 'tinned by recrystallisation from alcohol, it forms beautiful colourless 



medlM, insoluble in cold water, and volatile without decomposition. 



SUCCINIMIDE. [Surci.sic GBorJF.] 



8UCCINUM is a bituminous substance of a peculiar kind, the 

 natural history of which haa been already detailed. [AMBER, in NAT. 

 HI^T. Div.] It is not now used in the crude state in medicine, but is 

 employed to yield the oleum succini, or oil of amber. This is pro- 

 cured by the destructive distillation of amber, which is put into a 

 glass, copper, or iron retort, fitted with a glass alembic properly luted. 

 A gentle heat is applied by means of a sand-bath, by which the amber 

 is melted, and a little volatile oil passes over ; after this the amber 

 Dwells greatly, aud the distillation proceeds rapidly. By this process 

 three very distinct products are obtained, namely, impure succinic acid, 

 v ln'-li adhere* to the neck of the retort ; an acid liquid (called spirit u-; 

 volatilis succini i, in which succinic and acetic acids exist mingled with 



empyreumatic oil ; and, lastly, the volatile oil of amber, which is to be 

 separated from the acid liquid by careful pouring off. What remains 

 in the retort is colophony of amber, which is used to make varnish. 

 The volatile oil thus obtained is impure, containing various pyrogenous 

 ingredients, and requires repeated distillations to purify it. If in the 

 third or fourth of these the process be interrupted when about two- 

 thirds only of the oil has passed into the receiver, there is obtained a 

 volatile oil of a light yellow colour, a peculiar bituminous odour, and of 

 the specific gravity 0'880. If the distillation be continued too long, an 

 empyreumatic oil is evolved, which gives to the other a coffee-brown 

 hue ; and this is the general appearance of rectified oil of amber. By 

 some writers freshly prepared charcoal is directed to be put into the 

 retort when the impure oil is to be distilled, but that is very improper, 

 as by its means the pyrogenous principles, which it is the object of the 

 rectification to separate, are very abundantly generated. The purest 

 oil has a sharp burning taste, an acid re-action, and on exposure to the 

 air becomes brown and inspissated. Various resinous matters sub- 

 stituted for amber may all be detected by the absence of succinio 

 acid. 



Volatile oil of amber probably contains a large portion of creasote, 

 as may be inferred from the analogous action of nitric acid on it and 

 on creasote. One part of rectified oil of amber, and three parts of 

 moderately strong nitric acid, form a magma, which has the odour of 

 musk, and is called artificial muel: Rectified oil of amber is sti- 

 mulating, anti-spasmodic, and rubefacient. It ia now little given 

 internally, except in combination with ammonia, in the celebrated JM- 

 tf'-f/ire, for which the tinctara, ammonite composila of the Pharma- 

 copoeia was a substitute, but now omitted. This is to be applied to the 

 nostrils in fainting, hysteria, and epilepsy, or a very few drops diluted 

 with water may be taken internally. Oil of amber is beneficially 

 rubbed along the spine in the later stages of hooping-cough. One 

 ounce of rectified oil of amber, with half an ounce of tincture of 

 opium, forms a good embrocation in tic-doloureux ; its disagreeable 

 odour is an obstacle to its employment when the face is the seat of 

 the disease ; but it proves a most valuable application when the limbs 

 begin to lose their tone and swell in advanced life. It is extremely 

 efficacious against the cramps of the limbs. in Asiatic cholera, but which 

 may be prevented by pressing the foot against a board or other firm 

 body at the foot of the bed, when the patient feels cramp coming on. 



SUCCINYL. [Succimc GROUP.] 



SUCCISTERENE. A white crystalline matter formed during the 

 distillation of amber. 



SUCROSE. [SUGAR.] 



SUDORIC ACID (0 10 H a Nq i4 ), Hydrotic Acid. In addition to 

 lactic acid, there is contained in human perspiration the soda salt of 

 another acid to which the above names have been given. Sudoric acid 

 and its salts are uncrystallisable. The sudorate of silver has the 

 formula C 10 H,AgN0 14 . This salt is insoluble in alcohol; with this 

 exception all the salts of sudoric acid are soluble in alcohol. 



SUET is a variety of the fatty or adipose tissue of animals, accu- 

 mulated in considerable quantity about the kidneys and the omentum, 

 or caul, of several of the domestic quadrupeds. There are several 

 kinds of it, according to the species of animal from which it is procured, 

 such as that of the hart, the goat, the ox, aud the sheep (ovis aries). 

 This last, which is whiter than beef-suet is officinal. It belongs to the 

 class of saponifiable fats. In the recent state it is white, easily broken, 

 being solid at the ordinary temperature of the air, subdiaphanous, 

 scarcely possessed of odour, or only of a slight peculiar one, due to the 

 hircine, which in the process of saponification evolves a volatile strong- 

 smelling acid (hircinic acid of Chevreul), but possessing a very 

 disagreeable one when putrifying. It readily spoils on exposure to the 

 air, becoming rancid and yellow, but may be restored again to white- 

 ness by chloride of lime or chloride of magnesia. For this purpose, for 

 each hundred parts of suet from two to four parts of chloride of lime 

 are to be dissolved in from four to eight times ite weight of water, aud 

 to be mixed warm, and as much dilute sulphuric acid is to be added as 

 is necessary to decompose the chloride. 



Suet consists of about three-fourths of stearine, with some elaine, 

 and a little hircin and margarin; the preponderance o stearin 

 renders it the most solid of animal fats, a circumstance which con- 

 tributes to render it more indigestible than other fats. It liquefies 

 with gentle heat, and the prepared suet of the Pharmacopoeia is 

 obtained by melting it over a slow fire, and straining it, to separate the 

 membranous portion. It is used as an ingredient in cerates, plasters, 

 and ointments. 



After being melted, it is little prone to spoiling, and by pouring it 

 over various articles, such as potted char, minced collops, and mush- 

 rooms, from which it thoroughly excludes the air, it assists greatly in 

 preserving them. 



It has been employed also by M. Ludensdorff for preserving the 

 il'.ilnl /.'/', "C mushrooms, for botanical museums, by boiling them in 

 it (which thus filled their pores and cells, and penetrated the very 

 substance), and then covering them with a coat of varnish. It does 

 not however always succeed in preserving the colour and form. (See 

 Klotsch, in Hooker's ' Botanical Miscellany,' ii., p. 159.) 



SUFFERANCE. [TENANT.] 



SUFFICIENT REASON. (Mathematics and Physics.) The prin- 

 ciple which is connected with these words might be, and frequently is, 



