34 



ACTION OF HALOGEN COMPOUNDS OF ETHYL AND AMYL 



were collected, washed, and dried, and a portion of them was submitted to ana- 

 lysis in the ordinary way. 



f 4 - 325 grains, dried at 212°, gave 





8-925 



„ carbonic acid, and 







■ 



2-180 



,, water. 











4-565 



„ dried at 212°, gave 









2-195 



„ iodide of silver. 











Experiment. 



56-27 



Calculation. 





Carbon, 



56-31 



C 46 



276 



Hydrogen, 





560 



5-50 



H 27 



27 



Nitrogen, . 







5-71 



N 2 



28 



Oxygen, . 







6-55 



4 



32 



Iodine, 





25-98 



25-93 



I 



127-1 



100-00 



100-00 



490-1 



A comparison of the above results and appended calculation will shew that a re- 

 placement of hydrogen by ethyl in, or an attachment of iodide of ethyl to, the 

 alkaloid has taken place, according to the equation, 



C^^J^O. + C, H 5 I = C 42 { c ^ft } N, 4 , HI = C 46 H 27 N 2 4 I. 



Strychnine. 



New Salt. 



The salt crystallizes without water, and whatever constitution subsequent experi- 

 ment may assign to it, it will be now described as an hydriodate, and its base as 

 ethylostrychnine. 



Hydriodate of ethylostrychnine is soluble in about 50 or 60 parts boiling 

 water, and in about 170 of water at 60°; a tolerably dilute fluid deposits the salt 

 in very fine white four-sided prisms of considerable lustre, which they retain in 

 the dry state ; it is also soluble in rectified spirit, and comes out of that menstruum 

 in short prismatic crystals. It is unaltered in the air ; at 212° it loses no weight, 

 but acquires a slight shade of colour; at a higher temperature it fuses and 

 blackens, affording thick vapours of an alkaline reaction, and disagreeable odour ; 

 and a yellowish sublimate, rather oily in appearance, forms on the sides of 

 the vessel ; no vapours of iodine are to be observed during the process of heating. 



This salt gives no base with potass or ammonia, but is less soluble in these 

 alkaline fluids than in water, and is consequently precipitated, on their addition, 

 in strong solutions ; strong potass throws it down at once in the cold, and when 

 ammonia is added to a concentrated boiling aqueous solution, the unchanged 

 salt deposits immediately in fine needles. It is readily decomposed by oxide 

 of silver, and the hydrated base may be obtained in the crystalline state. These 

 reactions assimilate the salt to an iodide rather than to an hydriodate, and the 

 characters of the base, when isolated as far as it can be, being those of an 

 analogue of ammonium oxide, its salts would perhaps be more correctly called 



