PKODUCTS DERIVED FROM INDIGO-BLUE. 50 



2. From what has been stated above, it follows that all 

 the products, except anthranilic acid, are formed by a very 

 simple process, which consists merely in indigo-blue com- 

 bining with alcohol and acetic acid in various proportions, 

 and yielding compounds in which none of the constituents 

 as such can be detected. It is, therefore, not a process of 

 decomposition, but rather a synthetical process, a building 

 up of complex bodies from others of a simpler constitution. 

 This is proved by the fact of water being eliminated during 

 the process, whereas in all cases in which complex organic 

 substances are decomposed into siinpler ones water is 

 absorbed. This elimination of water proceeds so far, that 

 some of the products, notwithstanding that they are formed 

 by the addition to indigo-blue of many atoms of alcohol and 

 acetic acid (bodies having much less carbon and more 

 oxygen), are found to contain even more carbon than 

 indigo-blue itself, a great proportion of the water both of 

 the alcohol and the acetic acid having been separated. Is 

 it not possible that processes of a similar nature may go on 

 within the cells of plants, the chief function of which is 

 known to consist, chemically speaking, in the construction 

 of complex bodies from others of a simpler composition ? 

 Is not the power residing in the vegetable cell which 

 enables it to neutralize very potent chemical affinities 

 somewhat of the same nature as that which, in this process, 

 causes the acetic acid to leave the strong base with which 



Mylius to make some experiments on the action of caustic alkalies on alcohol 

 in sealed tubes. He obtained by this action a resin of a fine reddish-yellow 

 coloui', soluble in ether, but totally insoluble in watery solutions of alkalies. 

 Its properties so nearly resemble those of the true aldehyde-resin, as described 

 by Weidenbusch, and its composition diifers so little from that of the latter, 

 that it seems very probable that the two resins may be identical. If so, it 

 follows that aldehyde-resin is certainly formed by the action of caustic 

 alkalies on alcohol, but only under pressure in sealed tubes. The resin 

 formed in open vessels in contact with the air is totally different. For 

 further particulars regarding this peculiar action I must refer to the account 

 of Mr. Mylius's experiments contained in the Proceedings of the Society, 

 February aist, 1865. 



