_ 89 - 
inconsiderable, and it would therefore appear by no means impossible, 
that the effects on the respiration and pulsation which occur when 
coffee is partaken of, must in part be attributed to the presence of 
furfur alcohol. Further information on the cause of the action of coffee 
may possibly be obtained from the pharmacological examination of 
the nitrogenous substance contained in oil of coffee. In apparent 
contradiction herewith are the statements by K. B. Lehmann and 
G. Rohrer^), who have also occupied themselves with the question 
of the pharmacological action of distillates from coffee and tea. They 
confirm by new^ experiments a previously obtained result, according 
to which neither the coffee- nor the tea -distillate exerts any action 
worth mentioning, either temporary or permanent, whatever. 
Manasse^) has extended the well-known synthesis of aromatic 
oxy alcohols from phenols and formaldehyde^) to a number of other 
phenols, such as eugenol, thymol, carvacrol and o-oxyquinoline. 
Sand and Singer^) have recently enlarged the previous work by 
Hofmann and Sand on the formation of mercuric compounds from 
unsaturated bodies and mercuric salts, by adding to it terpineol and 
dimethyl heptenol. They found here also, that salts of mercury HgXg 
united in such manner with the double linking, that the group HgX 
becomes attached to the carbon atom richer in hydrogen; the other 
attached group X can be readily split off by hydrolysis, and the 
conversion which takes place is either extra-molecular with substitution 
by the O H-group, or intra-molecular with loss of water and formation of 
an oxide-like compound. The following formula of the process of the 
reaction in the case of terpineol may serve to elucidate this: 
CH. 
CH. 
CH., 
CH, 
HO. 
CH2 CH HgX., CH, CH . HgX CH, CH-HgX 
I 1 > I I > I " I 
CH. CHo 
CH., CH., 
CH 
I 
C(OH) 
^\ 
C H„ C H„ 
2 
/ 
CH 
C(OH) 
CH3 CH3 
C H2 C Hg 
CH 
I 
C(OH) 
CH3 CH3 
or 
CH, O 
CH3.C.CH3 
CH, 
CH . HgX 
CH., 
CH 
^) Arcliiv fiir Hygiene 44 (1902), 202; according to Chem. Centr. Blatt 1902. 
n, 1067. 
^) Berliner Berichle 35 (1902), 3844. 
") Berliner Berichte 27 (1894), 2409. — German Patent No. 85588. 
^) Berliner Berichte 35 (1902), 3170. 
