Sery.—0n the Movements of Camphor on Water. 473 
our oxygenated oils yield alkaloids to a process which hitherto has been 
considered applicable to hydro-carbon oils alone, and even of these but 
very few. 
I should inform you that none of the oils, etc., cited above, when tested 
for alkaloidal matter gave any indication of its presence, although I operated 
in each case upon the same quantity of oil as that I used for the aniline 
process. 
The constitution and precise character of the alkaloid or alkaloids I 
have thus formed I cannot at present describe to you, as I have not yet the 
leisure to prosecute this investigation to the end. I hope to take up this 
subject on some future day, but in the meantime I shall be glad to hear of 
any one continuing the research, as it can hardly fail to give results of 
great interest. 
Posrscnrer.—I have further pursued my investigations of this subject, 
and of the two alternatives I have submitted to you in respect to the 
derivation of the alkaloid I produce by this process, I accept that which 
assumes it to be a product of some hydro-carbon or hydro-carbons present 
in the oil or fat employed. I have produced alkaloids by this process from 
well-washed butter, the purest’ sperm, and olive oils; and I now make the 
general statement that there is present in all the fixed oils or fats, whether 
of vegetable or animal origin, whether in the organism or removed from it, 
a small quantity of one or more hydro-carbon oils, and that these, or at 
least some of them, are homologous with benzol. 
Art. LXXXI.—On the Cause of the Movements of Camphor when placed upon 
the Surface of Water. By Wmm Srey. 
(Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 31st August, 1878.) 
Ir has long since been known that camphor in small pieces describes rapid 
and very eccentric movements when placed upon water, the surface of 
which is free of oily matter. This phenomenon is so singular,* and is, 
besides, so striking to him who for the first time witnesses it, that such an 
one can hardly help feeling anxious to become acquainted with its cause, 
* I have since discovered that the liquid bi-sulphide of camphor behaves in this 
respect like camphor. If the water used with it is quite clear from greasy matter, it 
spreads in various directions by a series of explosive efforts; but if the water contains a 
minute quantity of grease (as it will do if especial precautions are not taken), the sulphide 
of camphor, after a little while, rotates slowly round its centre, then rotating progressively 
aster, it at last strikes off in a straight line, leaving a greasy narrow streak behind, 
which is permanent.  - 
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