ACTION OF SULPHURIC ACID UPON THE AMIDES AND NITRILES. 
479 
The formula adopted by M. Liebig for the barium-salt is 
C Hg Ba Sa Og. 
If we double this formula we arrive at the expression 
C.2 Hg Bag S 4 0 ,g=C 2 (H 2 Bag) S 4 Oi2-|-4aq, 
whieh represents disulphometholate of barium with 4 equivalents of water of crystal- 
lization. Our experiments have actually proved that this salt contains indeed 4 equi- 
valents of water, and that this water is retained at 100° C., the temperature at which 
IVJ. Liebig dried his salt before submitting it to analysis. 
More recently M. Redtenbacher and M. Wetherell have investigated the same 
barium-salt, but neither of them appears to have remarked the fact, that this salt loses 
water between 100° and 200°. M. Redtenbacher analysed a salt which M. Liebig 
had prepared himself. M. Wetherell examined a salt which he obtained as a 
secondary product in his researches on sulphate of ethyl. 
Although we have no longer any doubt regarding the identity of methionic acid 
and disulphometholic acid, we should have liked to offer a direct experimental proof 
of our opinion by an analysis of the barium-salt obtained either by ]M. Liebig’s or 
M. Wetherell’s process. We have therefore repeatedly endeavoured to prepare the 
methionate of barium both by M. Liebig’s and M. Wetherell’s method. By follow- 
ing exactly the plan described by these chemists, we have actually succeeded in obtain- 
ing a salt possessing all the characters of disulphometholate of barium. Unfortunately, 
although we worked upon rather a large scale, we did not succeed in obtaining by 
either of these processes a quantity of barium-salt sufficient for analysis. In both 
processes the salt is the product of a secondary reaction. 
May 9th, 1856. 
