234 Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 
deliquescent, was converted into a platinum salt. It weighed 2°7 
grains. The smallest trace of this platinum salt gave the fingers 
an intensely fishy odour. From its great intensity I mferred that 
the alkaloid was not methylamine, as when working with palladized 
pumice I, at one time, thought it might be, remembering Dr. 
Debus’s synthesis of that base by the action of platinum black on 
prussic acid*. The platinum salt produced in this experiment was 
not analyzed, but reserved for further purification. ? 
Eaperiment 3.—The current was kept up for twelve hours, during 
whick 21°51 feet of gas passed. At this point the flask cracked. 
On cooling it was broken up; and it was found that the zine had 
partly melted. On treating it with dilute sulphuric acid, sulphu- 
retted hydrogen was evolved. The platinum salt weighed 4:7 
erains. It yielded on ignition 38°83 per cent. of platinum. The 
corresponding salt of methylamine requires 41°61 per cent. ; that 
ot dimethylamine requires 39-53 : and that of trimethylamine 37°20. 
It is not unlikely, however, that traces of methylamine or dime- 
thylamine, or both, were present. It should here be noticed that 
the errors tend in the direction of too much platinum, owing 
to the difficulty of removing the last traces of ammonium salt when 
working on such minute quantities. It was found that ammonia 
and traces of the alkaloid were formed in this experiment when 
the zinc dust was cold; but this was not always the case. At 
202° Fahr., the fumes with hydrochloric acid were more obvious ; 
at 226° thev were observed the instant the rod dipped in the acid 
was brought near the exit tube. At 242° the fumes were very 
priskly evolved; and no apparent increase was noticed up to 356°. 
Experiment 4.—The gas was passed for 17 hours, to hydrogenate 
the zinc ; and 7 hours with heat. The chloride of ammonium pro- 
duced weighed 15 grains ; the platinum salt amounted to 7°7 grains. 
On ignition it gave 38:40 per cent. of platinum, or nearly the 
same as in Experiment 3. The gas passed amounted to 100 feet. 
Haperiment 5.—Here 101 feet of gas gave 2:03 grains of platinum 
salt, containing 37:04 per cent. of platinum. ‘This only differs by 
0°16 per cent. from the number required by theory for trimethy- 
lamine. The sal ammoniac formed amounted to 6:2 grains. 
Kxperiment 6.—The volume of the gas used was not taken. 
Two precipitates of platinum salt were obtained. The first was put 
aside to be worked up afterwards with some others to obtain greater 
purity. The second weighed 7:2 grains and afforded 38°47 per cent. 
of platinum. The chloride of ammonium weighed 1:9 grain. 
Experiment 7.—This time 42 feet of gas were passed. Two crops 
of erystals of platinum salt were obtained, weighing together 
8-0 grains. The mixture yielded 38°05 per cent. of platinum ; and 
2°1 grains of chloride of ammonium were obtained. 
In some of the foregoing experiments the whole of the platinum 
salts were not used in the determinations of the metal. The 
* Journ. Chem. Soc. 1863, p. 249. See also T. Fairley, “ On the Action 
of Hydrogen on Organic Polycyanides,” Journ. Chem. Soc, 1864, p. 362. 
