398 Messrs. Tiemann and Haarmann on [June 18, 



Fig. 3. Mass from blood of young rat (in serum) in full development, after two hours' 

 warming. (Ocular 3, Objective 7.) 



Fig. 4. Mass (young rat) with blood-corpuscles about it, to show the relative sizes. 

 (Ocular 3, Objective 5.) 



Fig. 5. Some of the developed forms as seen with No. 11 Hartnack. (See text.) 



Fig. 6. Form watched for four hours. (Ocular 3, Objective 9.) 



Fig. 7. Form watched for five hours. (Ocular 3, Objective 9.) 



Fig. 8. Small vein in connective tissue from the back of a young rat, showing the cor- 

 puscles free among the red ones. (Ocular 3, Objective 7.) 



Fig. 9. Small vein from the connective tissue of a rat (in serum), showing corpuscles and 

 developed forms. (Ocular 3, Objective 9.) 



VII. " On Coniferine, and its Conversion into the Aromatic Prin- 

 ciple of Vanilla." By FERD. TIEMANN and WILH. HAARMANN. 

 Communicated by A. W. HOFMANN, LL.D., F.R.S. Received 

 May 11, 1874. 



The sap of the cambium of coniferous trees contains a beautiful crystal- 

 line glucoside, coniferine, which was discovered by Hartig and examined 

 some years ago by Kubel, who arrived at the formula 



A minute study of this compound leads us to represent the molecule 

 of coniferine by the expression 



the percentages of which nearly coincide with the theoretical values of 

 Kubel's formula. 



Submitted to fermentation with emulsine, coniferine splits into sugar 

 and a splendid compound, crystallizing in prisms which fuse] at 73. 

 This body is easily soluble in ether, less so in alcohol, almost insoluble 

 in water ; its composition is represented by the formula 



C 10 H 12 3 . 

 The change is represented by the equation 



C 16 H 22 8 + H 2 O = C 6 H 12 6 + C 10 H 12 O 3 . 



Under the influence of oxidizing agents the product of fermentation 

 undergoes a remarkable metamorphosis. On boiling it with a mixture of 

 potassium bichromate and sulphuric acid, there passes with the vapour 

 of water, in the first place ethylic aldehyde, and subsequently an acid 

 compound soluble in water, from which it may be removed by ether. On 

 evaporating the ethereal solution, crystals in stellar groups are left 

 behind, which fuse at 81. These crystals have the taste and odour of 

 vanilla. An accurate comparative examination has proved them to be iden- 



