1908 - 9 .] Life and Chemical Work of Archibald S. Couper. 231 
the reaction, had obtained in the distillate some of Couper’s “ trichloro- 
phosphate de salicyle,” which had passed over undecomposed. But they 
regarded it as a mixture of salicyl chloride and chlorosalyl chloride, 
because with water they obtained salicylic and chlorosalylic (chloro- 
benzoic) acids. They did not test the distillate for phosphorus, and took 
no note of the possibility of the formation of a derivative of salicylic acid 
containing phosphorus. 
I now place together the formulae assigned to salicylic acid by Gerhardt, 
by Couper, by Kekule, and by Kolbe, appending to Couper’s formula 
(la, P- 224 of this paper) the formula I have deduced from it by putting 
0 = 16, and replacing the brackets by lines representing bonds (I d , p. 226). 
according to Gerhardt : 
according to Couper : 
Salicylic Acid 
c 7 h 5 o, 
H 
0 ; 
c 
j C R 2 
l C H 
j C H 
( C -0 -•OIL 
,0 2 
C O OH; 
reconstructed with 0 = 16, and lines in place of brackets : 
W C H 2 
C 
\C H 
C H 
C 
:-C OH 
according to Kekule : 
according to Kolbe : 
