TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 37 



Note on a Meilml of effecting the Solution of diffculthj Soluble Substances. 



By A. H. Allen. 



On the Nature of Berthelot's Vinylic Alcohol. 

 By Henry E. Armstroxg, Ph.D. 



According to Berthelot, acetylene is slowly absorbed when agitated with con- 

 centrated sulphuric acid ; and if the solution be diluted with water and distilled, 

 a liquid product is obtained which is slightly more volatile than water, and 

 possesses an extremely pungent odour recalling somewhat that of acetone. 



This product does not appear to have been obtained in a state of purity and 

 analyzed ; nevertheless Berthelot regards it as vinylio alcohol (O^ H3 . OH), formed 

 by the addition of the elements of a molecule of water to a molecule of acetylene ; 

 and it is described as such in several of our text-books. The author believes, 

 however, that theoretical considerations warrant a totally different conclusion. 



Thus experience entirely justifies the assumption that the first action probably 

 consists in the combination of a molecule of acetylene with two molecules of sulphuric 

 acid in the manner represented by the equation 



CH CH3 



Hi +2H,S0,= 1 



CH CH(HSOJ, 



and that the compound thus formed would be resolved by distillation with water 

 into sulphuric acid and aldehyde-hydrate : 



OH3 CH3 



I +20H,= | +2H,S0,. 



CH(HSOJ, OH(OH), 



But Kekult? and Zincke's experiments on the condensation of aldehyde lead us to 

 believe that the aldehyde thus produced would, under the influence of the sulphuric 

 acid, be converted into crotonic aldehyde : 



CH3 OH3 



21 I 



0(OHX=CH +20H,; 



II 



CH . COH 



and since the properties of Berthelot's product agree closely with those assigned to 

 crotonic aldehyde, there can be little doubt that the supposed vinylic alcohol is in 

 reality that compound, especially as the properties (b. p. &c.) of the " vinylic 

 alcohol " are not at all those which are likely to characterize the lower homologue 

 of allylic alcohol. Experiments to prove this are already in progress. 



On the Alkaloids of the Aconites. By G. H. Beckett and C. R. Alber Wright, 

 D.Sc., Lecturer on Chemistry in St. Mary's Hospital Medical School. 



Through the kindness of Mr. J. B. Groves, of Weymouth, we received for ex- 

 amination a quantity of the crystalline mixed nitrates of certain bases contained in 

 Aconitum napellus, together with the hydrochloride of a base which separated from 

 the liquor at a certain state of concentration during the process of extraction, and 

 a crystalline base extracted from A. fero.v ; the method of extraction was, in each 

 instance, essentially exhaustion by alcoholic hydrochloric acid, _ evaporation to a 

 small bulk, and extraction of the alkaloids by addition of ammonia and ether. 



After careful purification, the hydrochloride above mentioned gave numbers 

 which are best represented by the formula 0,i H^., NO,;,, HCl, UH., 0. This salt 

 ervstallizes from water in small sillry crystals, but the solutions have a strong 

 tendency to supersaturation : the free base refuses to crystallize from ether or 



