DR. KANE ON THE CHEMICAL HISTORY OF ARCHIL AND LITMUS. 
281 
C,o H 16 0 6 -, and C 5 H 3 0 2 , or C 20 H 12 O g , there does not appear any very simple mode 
by which they can be connected, and I am consequently disposed to look upon the 
erythrine as containing- in its equivalent the same quantity of carbon as exists in the 
erytbryline, and assigning to it consequently the formula C 22 H 13 O y , connected with 
that of erythryline by the substitution of three equivalents of oxygen for three equi 
valents of hydrogen. If erythryline be C 22 H 15 O e , then erythrine will be C 22 H 12 
0 9 , to which, however, as will be seen from the annexed calculated results, the value 
of the hydrogen is not easily reconciled. 
^22 — 
134-2 
61-22 
0 22 — 
134-2 
61-503 
H 13 = 
13-0 
593 
H 12 = 
12-0 
5-500 
Oy = 
72-0 
32-85 
Oy = 
72-0 
32-997 
219-2 
100-00 
218-2 
100-000 
On either of these formulee the constitution of the lead salt agrees with experi- 
ments very satisfactorily ; thus 
0 2 2 
= 134'2 
1205 
H 13 
= 130 
117 
09 
= 72-0 
6-47 
8 PbO 
= 892-8 
80-31 
11120 
10000 
The difference between 12 and 13 of hydrogen is here insensible. 
It is an exceedingly interesting question to judge if the original erythrine of 
Heeren should be looked upon as a determinate and independent substance, or 
whether it should be considered as having been, under an impure form, any of the 
substances which I have found. The accuracy and detail with which Heeren ope- 
rated upon the substances he describes, should certainly be considered as rendering 
it highly improbable that he could have examined his erythrine in such a variety of 
ways, without detecting it to be a mixture, if it really was so ; and more, he assigns 
to erythrine two characters which certainly do not belong to either of the bodies 
which I have now described ; 1st, that it is insoluble in ether ; and 2nd, that when 
heated it is in part volatilized. On the other hand, if he had obtained the erythrine 
in a pure condition, it is not likely that he would have sent his pseudo-erythrine to 
Liebig for analysis, without sending also the substance, which was the far more im- 
portant of the two, his erythrine ; this point is strengthened also by the fact that he 
found the active principle of the Lecanora Tartarea to be by no means identical with, 
although strongly resembling erythrine. The conversion of his erythrine also into 
pseudo-erythrine by boiling with alcohol, indicates either the identity of erythry- 
line with his erythrine, which can scarcely be supposed, or that his erythrine was 
a mixture of true erythrine with some other substances more sparingly soluble in 
alcohol and scarcely soluble in ether, which I consider to have been most probably 
MDCCCXL. 2 O 
