414 Dr. Veley and Mr. Symes.: Certain Physical and [Dec. 10, 
The substances sent were— 
- (i) Methyl stovaine,* OBzC(CH3)2CH2:N(CHs3).HCI1 ; 
(ii) Ethyl stovaine, or stovaine, OBzC.CH3.C2H;.CH2N(CH3)2HCl ; 
(iii) Amyl stovaine, OBzC.CH3.C5;Hi;.CH2N(CH3)2HCl ; 
(iv) Phenyl stovaine, OBzC.CH3.CgsH;.CH2N(CH3)2HC1 ; 
(v) Benzyl stovaine, OBzC.CH3.C;H;.CH2N(CH3)2HCl1; and 
(vi) The propyl ester of a dimethyl-amino-oxybenzoyl-isobutyric acid, 
OBzC.CH3.COOC3H;.CH2N(CH3)2HCI, which differs from stovaine in contain- 
ing the grouping COOC3H, in the place of the ethyl (C2H;) group. As regards 
the corresponding methyl ester, Fourneauf wrote :—“<Il contient tous les 
groupements de la cocaine” (namely a tertiary amino, an oxybenzoyl, OBz, 
and a methylated carboxyl, COOCHs, grouping) “c’est dailleurs un 
anesthésique puissant, mais l’accumulation des groupes acides autour de la 
fonction aminée détruit tellement la basicité de celle-ci que la molécule est 
trés acide au tournesol.” In other words, the salt may be regarded as inter- 
mediate, as regards its constitution, between stovaine on the one hand and 
cocaine hydrochloride on the other, though, as regards its properties, differing 
from both of them in giving an acid reaction; this point will be more fully 
discussed in the sequel. 
II. PHYSICAL PROPERTIES. 
The physical properties of the several compounds investigated are— 
(i) the densities of the salts themselves ; (ii) the affinity value of Fourneau’s 
salt, and, as to the physiological properties, their effects on (i) the contractility 
of isolated muscle, (ii) blood pressure, and (iii) respiration. The comparative 
effect of these drugs on nerve is dealt with as a separate subject in a further 
communication. 
Densities of the Salts—These were determined by displacement of toluene, 
using a specific gravity bottle of 10 c.c. capacity, rather more than 1 gramme 
of each salt being used; the necessary correction for air displacement was 
made, and each experiment performed in duplicate ; a bottle of like capacity 
and nearly identical weight was used as a tare. It is not, of course, 
pretended that such determinations are of the order of accuracy which can 
be obtained in the case of liquids with a U form of pycnometer, but the 
curious absence of data for the densities of salts of organic compounds was 
* For the sake of brevity, the words “ homologue of stovaine” will be omitted in the 
case of the compounds (i), (iii), (iv), and (v); for the same purpose, compound (vi) will 
be designated in the text as Fourneau’s salt. 
+ ‘Journ. de Pharmacie et de Chimie,’ June 1, 1908 ; also ‘ Bull. Soc. Chim.,’ 1908, [4], 
vol. 3, p. 114; and zbzd., 1909, vol. 5, p. 239. 
