364 DR THOMAS ANDERSON ON CERTAIN PRODUCTS OF DECOMPOSITION 
actions can be examined, so much the more likely are we to arrive at definite 
results. 
It was the consideration of these points which led me to undertake an inves- 
tigation into the nature of the action of Sulphur in the free state upon organic 
compounds, a subject hitherto totally uninvestigated, unless we except the curi- 
ous researches of ZEISE* on the simultaneous action of ammonia and sulphur 
upon acetone, which yields a variety of remarkable products, the properties of 
which he has described, without however determining their constitution. The 
results at which I have already arrived in these researches are contained in the 
following pages. They are, however, to be considered only as the commencement 
of the investigation ; and I am desirous of submitting them to the Society even in 
their present very imperfect state, as it is impossible to fix a period within which 
a series of researches, surrounded by so many difficulties, can be completed. No 
one who has not been specially occupied with such experiments can have any 
conception of the numerous sources of annoyance which they present, and of the 
expenditure of time and labour which is necessary for their performance. Indeed, 
I have more than once felt inclined altogether to abandon a subject occupying so 
much time in proportion to the results obtained, and the completion of which is 
further protracted by the nauseous odour of the compounds, which is so disgust- 
ing that it is impossible to pursue the investigation for any length of time conti- 
nuously. 
At the commencement of these researches I endeavoured to examine the ac- 
tion of sulphur upon some of the simpler organic compounds, in the hope of ar- 
riving at results of corresponding simplicity. My expectations, however, were dis- 
appointed, and I was obliged to have recourse to the fixed oils, on which sulphur 
has been long known to exert an action; the product obtained by heating together 
olive oil and sulphur until an uniform balsam-like substance was formed, having 
been employed in medicine by the older physicians under the name of the Balsam 
of Sulphur. 
The phenomena which manifest themselves during the mutual action of Sul- 
phur and a Fixed Oil are these :—At the first application of heat the sulphur melts 
and forms a stratum at the bottom of the oil; but as the temperature rises it 
slowly dissolves, with the formation of a thick viscid fluid of a dark red colour. 
As the heat approaches that at which the oil undergoes decomposition when 
heated alone, a violent action takes place attended by the evolution of sulphu- 
retted hydrogen in such abundance that the viscid mass swells up and occupies a 
space many times its original bulk. If at this point the mixture be allowed to 
cool, it concretes into a tough sticky tenaceous mass, adhering strongly to the — 
fingers. and having a disagreeable sulphureous odour ; if, however, the heat be 
* Forhandlingar vid de Skandinaviska Naturforskarnes tredje mote, p. 303. 
