7S REPORT 1871. 



if at all, truly soluble in cold water ; but when digested at 100° C. with water, 

 solution is obtained (but solution in consequence of decomposition), aldehyde 

 being produced, and the urea separated with some ammonium sidphocyanate. The 

 essential reaction is probably correctly represented by the equation 



^^" { NH^^' } +H. = CS" { NH, I _^ ^^ jj^ „ Q^ 



or the converse of that according to which the ethyliden sulpho-urea is formed; 

 dilute acids and alkalies act in the same way. 



From the alcoholic solution the author obtained a platinum salt and a gold 

 compoimd. 



Action of Aldehyde on WdJdc?-'s Urea. 



The urea was dissolved nearly to saturation in aldehyde, and the solution di- 

 gested in a sealed flask for two hours at 100" C. When cool, the flask was opened, 

 and the contents poured into a suitable vessel, and the aldehyde slowly evaporated. 

 No crystals of the urea were deposited, but a transparent pasty mass remained 

 when the solvent had been almost wholly driven off! After standing for twenty-four 

 hours, the residue was found to be white and friable. The mass was powdered, 

 and digested in the cold with nearly anhydi-ous alcohol, in which it is very slightly 

 soluble at ordinaiy temperature, washed with the same liquid, and then boiled 

 with alcohol. The filtered solution so obtained deposits, on rapid cooling, a con- 

 siderable quantity of a flocculent body, seen under the microscope to be wholly 

 made up of minute and considerably modified mouoclinic crystals. Analysis gave 

 the formula 



^^ Inh,,. 



for this body. A platinum compound has been obtained, but no gold salt. 



The new substance is easily decomposed by digestion with water into aldehyde 

 and the products of decomposition of the urea. The first stage of the reaction 

 may, no doubt, be represented by the equation 



CO{S&f ^"} +H.O = CO {Ng^}+C,H/0. 



Having succeeded in replacing half the hydi-ogen in each of these ureas, di- 

 rectly and by a very simple reaction, the author endeavoured to go a step further, 

 and substitute a hydrocarbon gi-oup for the residual hydrogen within the molecule. 

 All attempts in this direction have hitherto been fi'uitless. 



In view of the facts above stated and others well known, proving that half the 

 hydrogen only is capable of replacement, and that each atom of nitrogen within 

 the molecule of the urea is somewhat differently engaged, we are clearly warranted 

 in slightly modifying the rational formula of each urea, in order to bring it into 

 more complete harmony with the facts. The extent of the alteration is apparent 

 when we write the formula of the ethyliden ureas referred to in this note, thus : — 



fNC.H, 

 Ethyliden urea < COH 



rNailj 

 Ethyliden sulpho-urea < CSfl 



On the Analysis of a sinr/ular Deposit from Well-water. 

 By Dr. J. Emerson Eeynolds. 



On the Chemical Constitution of Glycolic Alcohol and its Heterologues, as viewed 

 in the new light of the Typo-nucleus Theory. By Otto Richteb, Ph.D. 

 The chemical constitution of glycolic alcohol and its heterologues may be ade- 



