Amides of Meconic and Comenic Acids. 215 



on the water bath to complete dryness, leaves a crystalline 

 mass of colourless silky needles. An accident deprived me 

 of the material destined for a combustion, but the amount 

 of nitrogen was determined by the following experiment : — 



4*495 grains, dried at 212°, gave by Peligott's method 

 0-645 ,, nitrogen = 14*34 per cent, 



and agrees neither with that required by a neutral nor an 

 acid salt of amido-meconic acid, whose values and formulae 

 are: — 



Acid Salt. 



Carbon, . 38-88 



Hydrogen, . 370 



Oxygen, . 44-46 



Nitrogen, . 12-96 



c I4 



84 

 8 



o 12 



N 2 



96 

 28 



tfeut 



ral Salt 





36.05 



C U 



84 



4-75 



Hn 



11 



41-18 



12 



96 



18-02 



*3 



42 



100-00 216 100-00 233 



but rather with a salt of meconamidic acid, differing from the 

 yellow one in being anhydrous, and containing three atoms 

 less of ammonia. The formula — 



6 NH 4 0, C 84 H 21 N 7 63 



requires 14*15 per cent, nitrogen ; the above result being 

 14-34. A glance at the rational formulae I assigned to the 

 yellow salt and to the acid itself on the former occasion of 

 their description, 



Salt, 9 NH 4 0, C 84 H 24 N 7 63 + 3 aq. 

 Acid, 9 HO, C 84 H 24 N 7 63 + 6 aq. 



will show that these cease to be tenable when the existence of 

 the new salt, and its mode of formation, are taken into account. 

 It seems to me that the facility with which the yellow com- 

 pound loses its ammonia should cause it to be considered 

 rather a super-salt or basic form of combination, and that the 

 stability of the white crystalline one affords more correct data 

 by which to determine the saturating power of the acid ; and 

 I would now represent the three thus : — 



