MOLECULAR CONSTITUTION OF THE ORGANIC BASES. 
393 
C20 N O2-C2 H4 H3 N 
V ! V ) 
Quinine. Leucoline. 
Cg Hi 3 N O2-C2 H4 02= Cg Hg N 
Hydrated oxide Trimethyl- 
of Tetram ethyl- amine, 
ammonium. 
Accordingly, we might expect that the action of iodide of methyl upon leucoline, 
and the subsequent decomposition of the iodide produced by means of protoxide of 
silver, would enable us to reconvert leucoline in this manner into quinine. This 
metamorphosis would be the more interesting, as it would open a source for the arti- 
ficial production of quinine ; leucoline being, as is well known, contained in consi- 
derable quantity in the basic portion of coal-tar naphtha. It may be stated here that 
leucoline, which is a substance remarkable for its antipathy to the crystalline form, 
when submitted to the action of iodide of methyl, solidifies at once into a splendid 
mass of crystals of a new iodide*, which in fact resembles in its outward appearance 
hydriodate of quinine, and which is still under examination. I am, however, by no 
means sanguine as to the result of this experiment, for the above play of formulae 
rests as yet on a very precarious foundation ; neither the formula of quinine nor that 
of leucoline being established beyond a doubt. Nevertheless, I intend to complete 
this investigation, because even if no other result is obtained, yet by means of this 
process new data for ultimately fixing the formulae of quinine and leucoline may be 
found. 
In conclusion, it may not be out of place to consider how far the preceding 
researches affect the received views regarding the constitution of the ammonia- 
salts. Without reproducing all the arguments brought forward by the supporters of 
the various theories, we may remember that, irrespectively of the impossibility of 
isolating ammonium itself, the instability of its oxide has been adduced as one of the 
most important objections against the assumption of the ammonium-theory as ori- 
ginally suggested by Ampere, and subsequently elaborated by Berzelius. It deserves 
to be noticed that Berzelius expressly states that he considers the solution of am- 
monia-gas in water as a solution of the hydrated oxide of ammonium. 
This idea, which is but a logical conclusion from the generalization of the facts, is 
discountenanced to a certain extent by the chemical and physical character of this 
solution. Everybody knows that, even at the common temperature, this liquid splits 
again into water and ammonia, while it still exhibits the character of the latter in so 
marked a manner, as almost to preclude the idea that it had undergone as essential 
a change as the transformation into oxide of ammonium necessarily must be. Under 
these circumstances, some interest is attached to the discovery of a series of com- 
pound bases, corresponding in their composition to hydrated oxide of ammonium. 
* A similar result is obtained by the action of iodide of ethyl upon conine and nicotine. 
