DE. STEXHOrSE ON LAEIXINIC ACID. 
55 
siderably resembles naphthaline and ordinary camphor. The taste of larixinic acid is 
slightly bitter and astringent. It reddens litmus paper very slightly, but a single drop 
of potash or ammonia, when added to a solution of a large quantity of larixinic acid, 
renders it alkaline. Larixinic acid is very soluble in boiling water, but is by no means 
very soluble in cold water, 87’ 8 8 parts of water at 15° C. dissolving 1 part of the acid 
only; but the solubility of larixinic acid in cold aqueous solutions is greatly increased 
by the addition of either acids or alkalies. Larixinic acid is deposited from its aqueous 
solutions in crystals which are very brittle, and often an inch or two in length. It like- 
wise dissolves in cold alcohol, but to a much greater extent in hot alcohol. The crystals 
deposited from its alcoholic solutions are thicker and more distinctly formed than those 
from water. It also dissolves but sparingly in ether, and is deposited in crystals of 
very considerable lustre *. The following are the results of the analysis of the larixinic 
acid : — 
I. 0'221 sublimed acid, dried in vacuo, gave 0’4633 carbonic acid and 0T003 water. 
II. 0T993 sublimed acid, dried in vacuo, gave 0‘417 carbonic acid and 0-0913 water. 
III. 0-2272 larixinic acid, crystallized out of water, gave 0-4756 carbonic acid and 
0-1030 water. 
Calculated numbers. 
Eoimd. 
C 20 — 
57-14 
I. 
57-13 
II. 
57-06 
III. 
57-09 
Hio = 
4-77 
5-04 
5-09 
5-04 
^10 == 
38-09 
37-83 
37-85 
37-87 
From these results it is evident that the carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen in larixinic 
acid are in the proportion of C 2 O^, or some multiple of these numbers, Cgo Hjo O^q 
being the numbers we have adopted as the more probable. 
AMien a quantity of larixinic .acid was dissolved in a great excess of liquid ammonia, a 
yellow-coloured solution was produced; when this was evaporated to dryness over 
sulphuric acid in vacuo, the larixinic acid was deposited in crystals which were nearly 
unaltered. It gave its characteristic reactions with salts of iron, and when boiled with 
milk of lime gave off no trace of ammonia. The combination which larixinic acid 
forms -with ammonia is therefore so feeble that it is decomposed by the volatility of the 
ammonia. In this respect, therefore, and in its forming no hydrate, larixinic acid closely 
resembles both pyrogallic and oxyphenic acids. 
When larixinic acid was treated with an excess of aqua potassse it very readily dis- 
solved, forming a yellowish solution. When dried over sulphuric acid in vacuo, the 
potash combination formed long flattish crystals having considerable lustre, but of a 
reddish-browm colour. These crystals, when pressed between folds of blotting-paper to 
free them from excess of potash and recrystallized in vacuo, yielded crystals which 
were more deeply coloured than the first. This potash combination is so very feeble that 
* The crystals of larixinic acid catch fire readily, and burn with a bright fiame, leaving no residue. 
