512 report- -1878. 



Picoline, 0,H 7 N, on oxidation yields a dicarbo-pyridenic acid, 7 ILN0 4 , 

 which on distillation with soda-lime, decomposes into pyridine, C 5 H 5 N, and car- 

 bonic anhydride, 2CO„. It bas, therefore, the structural formula C 5 H 3 N(CO.OH) 3 . 

 attempts to prepare lutidine, 7 H 9 N, from the aldehyde of that acid, as well as 

 by the reaction C 5 H 3 N(CO.O.CH 3 ), = C 7 H 9 N + 2C0 2 failed, owing, in the first 

 instance, to the small yield of aldehyde, and, in the second, to the total decom- 

 position 'of the product into pyridine, carbonic anhydride, and carbon. 



In spite of the failure of these attempts, the author regards it as probable 

 that picoline is metbyl-pyridine from the following consideration :— The amount of 

 heat evolved in the formation of these bases is probably very high. That heat, 

 added to the amount evolved by the combination of the base with an acid, is likely 

 to be greater than the total number of heat-units evolved during oxidation of 

 the base ; hence these bases are unoxidisable in acid solution. But when oxidised 

 in alkaline solution, the amount of heat evolved by oxidation is supplemented by 

 that arisino- from the combination of the resulting acid with the alkali, and then 

 exceeds the heat evolved during formation of the base. The presence of nitrogen 

 therefore gives great stability to the molecule, and prevents the methyl-groups 

 from being oxidised to carboxvl groups, as is the case with toluol, xylol, &c. At 

 least three acids of the formula C 7 H 5 N0 4 have been discovered, and it is pro- • 

 bable that as many as six are capable of existence. These the author has named 

 a, fi, and y, dicarbopyridenic acids. The a-acid is obtained by oxidising picoline 

 or lutidine, and the last two from lutidine. 



An attempt to pass from furfurol to pyridine by the series of reactions— 

 C 5 nJo„, P C 5 H 6 2 , C s H 5 00e, C H 5 ONIL, 



Furfurol. Furfuryl Furfuryl Furfuryl- 



alcohol. chloride. amine. 



C 3 H 5 N, 

 Pyridine, 

 was unsuccessful, owing to the instability of furfuryl chloride. 



From the stability of the pyridine group, and the instability of the furfurol 

 group the author regards it as probable that the constitution of the former is best 

 expressed by a closed, and that of the latter by an open chain. 



5. On some of the Derivatives of Furfurol, By Dr. "W. Ramsay. 



It was found impossible to prepare furfuryl chloride by the action of phos- 

 phoric chloride, or of hydrochloric acid gas on furfuryl alcohol, C 5 H 6 2 , owing to 

 a complete decomposition of the organic matter, with separation of carbon. 



Furfurine, prepared by heating furfurarnide, and possessing the same formula, 

 C H N unites with methyl-iodide, forming the hydriodide of methyl-furfurine ; 

 this salt 2 on treatment with ammonia, deposits the base C I5 H n (OH 3 )N.p 3 , as a 

 viscous oil insoluble in water, but soluble in alcohol. The base again unites with 

 methyl-iodide, giving the hydriodide of dimethyl-furfurine, C 15 H 10 (CH 3 ),N 3 O 3 HI, 

 also decomposable by ammonia with liberation of the base, dimethyl-furfurine, 

 H (CH ).,N o . This base appears also to be capable of union with methyl- 



Furfurine then, appears to be a secondary base, containing two atoms of 

 hydrogen replaceable by methyl. Whether more can be replaced the author was 

 unable to decide, as the loss by repetition of the operation was very considerable. 



G. Nitric Acid ; its Reproduction from the lower Oxides of Nitrogen. 

 By Bernard C. Molloy. 



In treating in this short memoir of the economic use of nitric acid, it would be 

 well to state t>y way of preface why it is considered worthy of such attention. 



