370 DR THOMAS ANDERSON ON CERTAIN PRODUCTS OF DECOMPOSITION 
tion of a peculiar nauseous smelling oil. The sparing solubility of this compound 
in alcohol renders its preparation in sufficient quantity for analysis an extremely 
tedious process, and I have sought in vain for a more abundant solvent. The 
only substance which I have found capable of taking it up in larger quantity, is 
coal-tar naphtha, but its employment is inadmissible, as the best which can be 
procured is an extremely impure substance, and the crystals of the compound 
deposited from it always acquire a rose or violet tint from some of its impurities. 
Oil of turpentine likewise dissolves it, but not more abundantly than alcohol. 
By many successive solutions in alcohol, I obtained enough of this substance 
for an analysis, of which the following are the results :— 
6°592 ++ of carbonic acid, and 
12-302 grains, dried in vacuo, gave 
3018 _--- of water. 
8:061 grains, deflagrated with a mixture of nitre and carbonate of soda, gave 
7:297 grains of sulphate of baryta = 1:0067 = 12°48 per cent. of sulphur. 
The mercury and chlorine were determined together by mixing the substance 
with quicklime, and introducing the mixture into a combustion tube. The end 
was then drawn out into an elongated bulb, into which the mercury sublimed, 
and which was afterwards cut off, dried in the water-bath, and weighed, both 
with and without the mercury; the chlorine was determined in the usual way 
from the residue in the tube. 
9958 grains gave 5:976 mercury = 60°01 per cent., and 4:310 grains chloride 
of silver = 10°67 per cent. of chlorine. 
5797 grains gave 2:409 of chloride of silver = 10°25 per cent. of chlorine. 
These results correspond closely with the formula C,, Hi, 5S; Hg, Cl, as is 
shewn by the following comparisons :— 




Experiment. Calculation. 
I. II. 
Carboni? 3)". = S68 Bis 14:46 Ci, 1200-0 
Hydrogen) "2 92:72 Boh 2°42 Hig 200:0 
Mereury . . . 60°01 Ba 60°32 Hey 5003°6 
Chlorine . . . 10:67 10-25 10°67 Cl, 885°3 
Sulphur . . . 12-48 aes 12:18 8; 1005°8 
100:49 -- 100-00 8294-7 
It is sufficiently obvious that the formula C,, H,, S; Hg, Cl, cannot be sup- 
posed to represent the rational formula of this substance. On the contrary, the 
remarkable analogy between its properties and those of the mercury compound 
of stlphuret of allyl appear clearly to indicate a similarity in their chemical con- 
stitution,—a similarity which, as we shall afterwards see, is borne out by the 
properties of the platinum compound. I consider this substance to contain an or- 
