32 ACTION OF HALOGEN COMPOUNDS OF ETHYL AND AMYL 



fit for analysis than that of nareotine, the composition of the base was ascertained 

 by converting it into a platinum compound, which was a very pale yellow amor- 

 phous substance, and gave the following result on analysis : — 



("3 265 grains, dried at 212°. gave 

 { 0-720 „ platinum, 



equal to a percentage of 22*38; 22-57 corresponds to the formula of the cotar- 

 nine salt, 



C 26 H 13 N0 6 , HC1, Pt Cl 2 . 



This artificial product then comports itself exactly like the alkaloids papave- 

 rine and nareotine ; and the reaction is no doubt of the same nature. 



The formation of these salts of the alkaloids, in cases where water is present, 

 is possibly brought about by a change, observed by Frankland* to take place 

 between iodide of ethyl and water in a sealed tube at 300° Fahr. ; the results 

 of this reaction are, according tc this chemist, hydriodic acid and ether. It seems 

 not improbable that the presence of a basic substance may determine this decom- 

 position at a much lower temperature. 



On Strychnine. 



Having examined the action of the alcohol iodides on a number of bases with 

 only one equivalent of nitrogen, I was anxious to ascertain the deportment of a 

 base containing, like strychnine, two atoms of this element, in the hope of throw- 

 ing some light on the function of the second equivalent. The researches of 

 Hofmann, on a great variety of alkaloids, have shewn us that the volatile bases 

 starting from the original type ammonia, and passing upwards to the most com- 

 plicated substances, may be viewed as nitrogen attached to basic hydrogen 

 alone, or to it in combination with hydrocarbons performing its functions, 

 or finally to hydrocarbons occupying the entire hydrogen part of the molecule. 

 In the fixed vegetable alkaloids, we see oxygen also included in the system ; 

 and if, as I have attempted to prove in the case of some of these, they 

 are comparable with nitryle bases, the hydrogen part of the compounds must 

 contain oxygenized hydrocarbons acting as hydrogen. In the case of a base 

 containing two atoms of nitrogen, it is possible that this element performs as it 

 were two parts ; one may be referable to the function of that in any ammonia, 

 amidogen, or nitryle base, while the other may be more analogous to that property 

 in virtue of which, in combination with ox} r gen, as N0 4 , it replaces an atom of 

 hydrogen in the carbohydrogen forming part of the compound molecule. The 



* Gerhardt Suite de Berzelius, ii., p. 323. 



