M. Wurtz on Aldehyde, 191 



ing for some hours in the water-bath. It is a yellowish viscous 

 oil, heavier than water, and with a peculiar odour resembling 

 chlorobenzoic ether. Its formula is 



€ 9 H 6 CI 2 NO 2 



> 



€ 2 H 5 r ®' 



Just as hippuric acid, when boiled with hydrochloric acid, is 

 resolved into benzoic acid and glycocol, so chlorohippuric acid is 

 resolved into chlorobenzoic acid and glycocol. But the chloro- 

 benzoic acid thus obtained differs from that prepared by the 

 decomposition of chloride of sulphobenzoyle. The body which 

 Otto obtained is transformed by the action of sodium-amalgam 

 into an acid free from chlorine, which is identical in all essential 

 respects with Kolbe and Lautemann's salylic acid*; and hence 

 Otto regards his chlorobenzoic acid as a peculiar isomeric modi- 

 fication of the true chlorobenzoic acid, a view which is supported 

 by the properties of the nitro-compound prepared from it. 



Wurtz t has succeeded in converting aldehyde into alcohol by 

 simply placing a dilute aqueous solution of aldehyde in contact 

 with an amalgam of sodium. The soda formed in this reaction 

 resinified a portion of aldehyde; but another portion was converted 

 into alcohol. The alcohol formed in this reaction was purified 

 by distillation over carbonate of potash, and then over caustic 

 baryta. It had the smell and exactly the boiling-point of ordi- 

 nary alcohol. Treated by potassium, it disengaged hydrogen 

 and formed ethylate of potassium, from which, by the action of 

 iodide of ethyle, iodide of potassium and ordinary ether were 

 obtained. 



Pyroracemic acid, according to its formula C 6 H 4 O 6 , may be 

 a homologue of glyoxylic acid, C 4 H 2 O 6 , and Finck J has inves- 

 tigated whether its decomposition under the influence of bases is 

 analogous to that of this acid. When a solution of pyroracemic 

 acid is treated with excess of baryta- water, a yellowish amorphous 

 precipitate is obtained, which is a basic pyroracemate of baryta, 

 C 18 H 9 Ba 3 18 + BaOHO,inthe formation of which three mole- 

 cules of pyroracemic acid appear to coalesce ; and the formula of 

 the modified pyroracemic acid separated from this precipitate is 

 C 18 H 12 18 = 3(C 6 H 4 6 ). 



When this basic salt is boiled with excess of baryta in a retort, 

 a decomposition takes place; no volatile products are formed, 

 but instead of the amorphous precipitate a crystalline one of 

 oxalate of baryta appears. The liquid is filtered, the excess 



* Phil. Mag. vol. xx. p. 382. 



f Comptes Rendus, April 28, 1862. 



X Liebig's Annalen, May 1862. 



