50.2 



Dr. H. E. Armstrong on 



[June 16, 



hoped that by continued treatment with nascent hydrogen it might have 

 taken up four atoms more of hvdrogen and split up into benzylamine, — 



C 14 H u N 2 + 2HH= 2C_ H 9 N. 

 Up to the present time I have not succeeded in effecting this transforma- 

 tion, although I have continued the action of zinc and hydrochloric acid 

 for several days. I do not, however, by any means consider this transfor- 

 mation impossible. 



It is worthy of remark that the base here described, and for which I 

 also refrain from proposing a name until its constitution is better ascer- 

 tained, is isomeric with a body which I formerly obtained*. Ethenyldi- 

 plienvldiamine, 



(c 2 H 3 "y 



C G BL 



N=C 14 H 14 N 5 



H 



formed by the action of trichloride of phosphorus on one molecule of acetic 

 acid and two molecules of aniline with separation of two molecules of 

 water, has not only the same composition and the same molecular weight, 

 but is monacid like the base derived from the sulphur body. It requires 

 however, scarcely more than a cursory comparison of the two substances 

 to be convinced that this is a case of isomerism and not of identity. The 

 crystalline forms, both of the two bases and also of their salts, differ widely 

 from one another. Besides the previously mentioned salt, I have also com- 

 pared the nitrate of the new base, which is, though with difficulty, obtained 

 in six-sided tables, with the beautiful nitrate of the previously studied base. 

 Ethenyldiphenyldiamine is quife neutral, whilst the alcoholic solution of 

 the unnamed base has a distinctly alkaline reaction. The melting-points 

 also of the two bases differ widely ; the old one melts at 137° and the new at 

 71°. Lastly, the behaviour of the two bodies with concentrated sulphuric 

 acid leaves no doubt but that they are different ; ethenyldiphenyldiamine 

 is changed under these circumstances without blackening into sulphanilic 

 acid and acetic acid. The base derived from thiobenzamide is charred 

 with evolution of sulphurous acid. 



I am indebted to Mr. K. Sarnow for his valuable assistance in prose- 

 cuting the above researches. 



III. "Contributions to the History of the Acids of the Sulphur 

 Series. — I. On the Action of Sulphuric Anhydride on several 

 Chlorine and Sulphur Compounds." By Henry E. Armstrong, 

 Ph.D. Communicated by E. Frankland, Ph.D., F.R.S. Re- 

 ceived May 2, 1870. 



Kuhlmannt, in a comprehensive memoir on the formation of ether, men- 

 tions incidentally the direct combination of sulphuric anhydride with 



* Hofinann, Proc. Roy. Soc. vol. xv. p. 55. 

 f Ann. Cb. Pharm. xxxiii. p. 108. 



