TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION B. TLZ 
place, for over 90 per cent. of the dinitro-benzene was recovered, and very little 
cyanide was acted upon. 
With an appreciable amount of water present, and ordinary very alkaline 
cyanide, the reaction probably runs quite differently. 
Under our conditions of working we have failed to obtain any sign of an 
oxyethyl or oxymethyl derivative. 
The nitrocyanide or nitrile forms brown needle-shaped crystals from alcohol. 
It decomposes at about 200°, feebly deflagrating. 
It does not seem to hydrolise when boiled with potassium hydrate, or with 
strong hydrogen chloride. 
The work was commenced with a view of employing the oxyethyl]-nitro-nitrile 
as a starting point for another research. It now seems advisable to examine this 
reaction under several conditions, such as the effect of water and free alkali in the 
cyanide, 
13. The Presence of Potassium Nitrite in Brown Powder Residue when 
the Powder is burnt in Air under Ordinary Pressure. By Mr. Seton, 
R.A., and Mr. Stevenson, #.A., Ordnance College, Woolwich. 
Ordinary black powders when burnt in air under ordinary pressure leave a 
small quantity of residue in which carbonate, sulphate, and sulphide of potassium 
predominate. Traces only of nitrate and nitrite and other compounds can usually 
be found. When examined quantitatively, however, the three salts above men- 
tioned together make up some 98 per cent. of the whole. Brown powders burn 
much more slowly, and in consequence the residue is larger. It is generally white 
or greyish-white, hygroscopic, and for the most part soluble in water. 
Some analyses were made of these brown-powder residues to determine the 
relation of sulphate to carbonate; no sulphide is, as a rule, present. It was first 
noticed on acidifying that red fumes were produced. This of course indicated 
presence of nitrites in more than mere traces. 
Several determinations of the amount of nitrite, by permanganate and by the 
nitrometer, gave about 6 per cent. calculated as KNO,. 
The figures of one complete analysis of residue from SBC are: 
Potassium carbonate . 3 é : ‘ : i , . 61:96 
Pr, sulphate . : z : - : - . . 2618 
Fr nitrite . 3 ; ‘ : : ‘ ; : 6:17 
Silica and other insoluble substances (water) . 3 ; 4 5'80 
100°11 
