940 



Nearly thirty years ago Dobereiner observed, when preparing for- 

 mic acid by distilling a mixture of starch, peroxide of manganese and 

 sulphuric acid, that the liquid which passed into the receiver con- 

 tained a small quantity of oil which rendered it turbid. To this oil 

 Dobereiner gave the fanciful name of " artificial oil of ants," though 

 the very limited quantity in which he was able to procure it pre- 

 vented him from determining almost any of its properties. 



The author's attention was first directed to the subject in 1840, 

 when he found that the oxide of manganese was unnecessary, and 

 that the oil could be readily prepared by operating on most vege- 

 table substances with either sulphuric or muriatic acid. The oil, on 

 analysis, was found to have the formula C^j Hg Og, and to contain 

 oxygen and hydrogen in the proportions to form water, while all 

 other oils and fats contain an excess of hydrogen. 



The late Dr. Fownes took up the subject in 1845, and made the 

 interesting discovery, that when the oil which he called furfurol is 

 heated with ammonia, a crystalline amide is formed. When this 

 amide is boiled with caustic lyes, it is changed into the crystallizable 

 base furfurine. The paper then describes the best mode of prer 

 paring furfurol, and also the method of purifying it from an oil with 

 which crude furfurol is always accompanied, and to which the name 

 of meta-furfurol has been given. Meta-furfurol is the cause of the 

 bright red coloration which impure furfurol instantly produces when 

 it is treated with muriatic or sulphuric acids in the cold. This por- 

 tion of the paper concludes with some new observations on furfurol, 

 and an examination of some of the salts of furfurine. 



It has been pretty satisfactorily ascertained that the constituent 

 of plants which yields furfurol is the matiere incrustante of M. Payen, 

 viz. the matter with which the interior of the cells of plants is lined. 

 This is an amorphous granular substance which has been gradually 

 deposited from the sap in its passage through the tissue of the plant. 

 It is most abundant in hard woods, such as oak and teak, especially 

 in the oldest portions which lie nearest the heart of the tree. As the 

 author of the paper was led to conjecture that the matiere incrustante 

 of the different great classes of vegetables would be found on exa- 

 mination analogous but not identical, he thought it likely that the 

 oils derivable from them would also prove not identical with furfurol, 

 though probably very analogous to it in their nature and properties. 

 The alg8e or sea-weeds, whose structure is very different from that 

 of ordinary herbaceous plants, were employed to test the truth of this 

 hypothesis. They yielded an aromatic oil to which the name of 

 fucusol was given. Though essentially different from furfurol, it 

 closely resembles that oil in its properties, being also isomeric with 

 it. Fucusol forms a crystallizable amide with ammonia, called fucus 

 amide, which, when it is boiled with alkaline lyes, is also converted 

 into an organic base — fucusine, which is likewise isomeric with fur- 

 furine. Fucusine is a rather difficultly crystallizable base; but some 

 of its salts, especially the nitrate, may be readily procured in large 

 crystals. In solubility and crystalline form they differ from those 

 of the corresponding base. 



