74 Experiments on Bkhlorure of Sulphm^, Sfc. 



suitable evaporation, it deposits very long needle-shaped crystals 

 of perfect whiteness ; these crystals are of a slightly bitter flavor, 

 and have no feature of acidity. 



With the essence of turpentine, the reaction is extremely tu- 

 multuous, the vessel in which the operation was made, was sunk 

 in cold water, and yet the matter boiled up considerably ; the 

 mass became very viscous, but it remained homogeneous. Dis- 

 tillation was performed ; a great quantity of chlorohydric vapors 

 were thrown off by the draught tube ; a pomegranate-red liquid 

 condensed in the recipient ; this liquid exhaled a stinking smell, 

 pretty similar to that from the products of the distillation of ani- 

 mal matter. A very black sediment remained at the bottom of 

 the cucurbite. On applying nitric acid to this mass, no needle- 

 formed crystals were obtained as with the naphtha ; the wash- 

 ings of the distilled liquid gave a very viscous reddish mass, 

 which sank to the bottom, instead of the floating yellowish mass 

 obtained with the naphtha. 



Not having at my disposal the means and appliances for pro- 

 ceeding to organic analyses, I have been unable to ascertain the 

 composition of the different products to which the reactions 

 above described gave rise, a composition, the knowledge of which 

 is indispensable to a correct appreciation of these products. In 

 publishing this memorandum, I have therefore had no other ob- 

 ject in view but to point out a few facts relating to the action of 

 bichlorure of sulphur on carbures of hydrogen, facts which have 

 appeared to me worthy to engage the attention of chemists, and 

 susceptible of being connected with one another, and brought 

 under the laws of a common theory. 



Deprived of the apparatus and reactives necessary for this 

 study, I have deemed it my duty to give publicity to an entirely 

 novel subject of study, which, in my opinion, holds out a cer- 

 tainty of important discoveries, and I hope and trust that some 

 American chemist, placed in circumstances more favorable, and 

 especially one more skillful, will, by following up this subject of 

 inquiry, ere long enrich the science with several new and inter- 

 esting combinations. 



