CHAP. X.] 



SKATOL. 



425 



a picric acid compound which crystallises in the form of beautiful red 

 needles. This compound was then treated with ammonia and distilled 

 in a current of steam, when the 'skatol distilled over. 



Skatoi always As was previously stated (page 422), Salkowski 

 accompanies found that indol ig not Destroyed during the course of 

 long-continued putrefaction, as Odermatt, Nencki and 

 Brieger had supposed, its non-discovery in their experiments being 

 probably due to its volatilisation. According to Salkowski, from 

 whatever source prepared, all indol contains skatol and the converse 

 is also true 1 . 



Skatol and 

 indol can re- 

 place each 

 other in the 

 products of pu- 

 trefaction. 



As a result of their inquiries E. and H. Salkowski 

 came to the conclusion ' that skatol and indol can 

 replace each other, seeing that in the albuminous mole- 

 cule skatol does not form one definite fraction and indol 

 another, but both substances take their origin in a common 

 mother-substance which exists in the proteid ; this substance, according 

 to circumstances, yields at one time indol in preponderating quantity, 

 and at another time skatol, so that free skatol may be almost absent*" 



When we reflect that the relative quantities of indol and skatol 

 differ greatly in different, apparently identical, experiments we are 

 almost forced to the explanation advanced by Salkowski, viz. that 

 the difference in the product must, cwteris paribus, depend upon the 

 difference in the agents which bring about the decomposition, to wit, 

 the bacteria. To support his contention Salkowski 3 calls to our 

 remembrance the experiments of Fitz 4 on two organisms, of which the 

 first, when acting on glycerin, nearly always produces ethyl-alcohol, 

 and the second butyl-alcohol. Similarly we may assume the existence 

 of an indol-producing and of a skatol-producing micro-organism, 

 though no one has as yet succeeded in cultivating them separately 

 and identifying them. 



Physical and Skatol, like indol, crystallises in the form of platelets, 

 chemical pro- which have a melting point of 95 C. and a boiling 

 perties of ska- p O i nt o f 265 266 C. It possesses a loathsome, faecal, 

 odour. It is more sparingly soluble in water than 

 indol, but, in the presence of steam, distils more readily than indol. 

 It is readily soluble in alcohol, ether, chloroform, and benzol. 



It forms a compound with hydrochloric acid which has the 

 composition (C 9 H 9 N) 2 HC1 ; this compound is readily soluble in alcohol, 

 but insoluble in water or ether. With picric acid, as already stated, 

 skatol forms a crystalline compound, analogous, and very similar, to 

 the indol compound. It is, however, distinguished from the latter in 

 that, when treated with caustic soda and distilled, skatol passes 



1 ' In keinem unserer Versuche wurde Indol vermisst,' Salkowski, op. cit. p. 448. 



2 Salkowski, op. cit. p. 444. 



3 Ibid. p. 442. 



4 Alb. Fitz, ' Ueber Spaltgahrungen,' Ber. d. deutsch. chem. Gesellsch. Vol. xn. (1879), 

 p. 648. 



