FORMATION OF A VEGETO-ALKALI. 261 



lamp or chauffer. After ten or fifteen minutes' ebullition the change is complete, the 

 great bulk of the new substance appearing in the form of a heavy, yellowish oil, which, 

 on the removal of the vessel from the fire, collects at the bottom of the flask, and on 

 cooling, solidifies, while that which had been dissolved by the liquid crystallizes out. 

 When perfectly cold, the whole is thrown upon a cloth filter, slightly washed with 

 cold water, and then dissolved in a large quantity of dilute boiling solution of oxalic 

 acid, the acid being kept in considerable excess. The liquid, filtered hot, deposits 

 on cooling a large crop of crystals of the acid oxalate of the base, dark-coloured, 

 however, and impure. The salt may then be collected on a cloth filter, slightly 

 washed and pressed, redissolved in boiling water, and heated for a few minutes with 

 a little good animal charcoal, deprived of its earthy phosphates, &c., by washing with 

 hydrochloric acid. The filtered solution now deposits the acid oxalate in a state of 

 perfect whiteness and purity; from the pure salt the alkali may be obtained in 

 crystals by solution in a large quantity of boiling water, addition of excess of ammo- 

 nia, and rapid filtration at a high temperature. The crystals which form on cooling 

 require of course washing with distilled water until all the ammoniacal and other 

 salts are removed, and a portion of the alkaloid taken from the filter is found to leave 

 no residue when completely burned on platinum. 



I am in great doubt as to the most appropriate names to be bestowed on these 

 curious bodies, and this doubt will remain until more is known respecting the real 

 origin of the oil. This substance has no apparent connection with formic acid, ex- 

 cept the accidental one of contemporaneous production. It is allied in constitution 

 to the sugar and starch series, inasmuch as it contains oxygen and hydrogen in the 

 proportions to form water, and in properties to bitter almond oil and the essential 

 oils in general. So far as my own experiments go, it seems to be produced most 

 freely and in greatest abundance from bran, 1 lb. of that substance distilled with half 

 its weight of sulphuric acid and 3 lbs. of water having yielded nearly a drachm of 

 oil, while mere indistinct traces could be obtained from similar quantities of rice- and 

 potatoe-starch. Under these circumstances, perhaps the name " Furfurol" (from 

 furfur, bran, and oleum) might be applied provisionally, and I am informed that this 

 is the name which was proposed by the party who several years ago prepared a con- 

 siderable quantity of the oil (a portion of which came into my hands, as mentioned 

 at the commencement of this paper), and endeavoured to discover for it economical 

 applications. 



The following, therefore, will be the provisional nomenclature : — 



Oil produced by the action of sulphuric acid on bran, &c., termed "furfurol," 



^15 Hg Og. 



Product of the action of ammonia on fnrfurol, or " furfurolamide," CjsHgNO.^. 



Vegeto-alkali, " furfarine," produced by the duplication of the elements of furfu- 

 rolamide, CgoHigNaOg. 



2 M 2 



