32 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL. 
[July 9, 1870. 
A newly invented label-damper was presented by 
Messrs. Bourne and Taylor, which was handed round 
for examination, and appeared to possess considerable 
merit; this concluded the business of the meeting. 
fptotinigs nf Sfnmiifit 
EOYAL INSTITUTION. 
A lecture was delivered on Friday evening, June 10th, 
by Dr. Odling, F.R.S., Fullerian Professor of Chemistry 
to the Institution, “On the Ammonia Compounds of 
Platinum.” The lecturer alluded to the discovery of 
ammonia gas by Priestley in 1774 ; to the characteristic 
property of this gas, H 3 N, of uniting directly with hy¬ 
drochloric acid gas, HC1, to form a solid deposit of sal- 
ammoniac, or hydrochloride of ammonia, II 3 X,HC1; to 
the similarity of behaviour in many respects of sal-am¬ 
moniac with chloride of potassium, leading to the infer¬ 
ence that sal-ammoniac contains a composite metal am¬ 
monium, H 4 N; to the resemblance between chloride of 
potassium and sal-ammoniac in the way in which they 
are acted upon by a weak galvanic current, when a drop 
of mercury forms the negative pole, an amalgam of po¬ 
tassium, Kj.Hg y , in one case, and an amalgam of ammo¬ 
nium, (H 3 N,H) r Hg V , in the other case, being thus pro¬ 
duced ; to the characteristic property of ammonia gas of 
freely dissolving in water and forming a liquid having 
many of the properties of aqueous potash, although dif¬ 
fering from that, inasmuch as hydrate of potassium is a 
definite body, while hydrate of ammonium has an in¬ 
ferential existence only. He then said that the most 
interesting circumstance with regard to ammonia, was 
its property of serving as a type from which compounds 
of the most varied character may be derived by substitu¬ 
tion. The general character of those substitution-changes 
was described, and the views of Laurent and others, with 
reference to the constitution of some of the ammonia 
compounds, and especially those with platinum, were 
referred to. 
He said that his attention having of late been directed 
to the study of these compounds, he has succeeded in 
differentiating the simplest of the platinum sal-ammoniacs 
from several allied and isomeric bodies with which it had 
before been confounded; and in obtaining from it the 
corresponding hydrated base of the series. He has also 
obtained some reactions of interest with bodies belonging 
to the more complex series; and, as a general result of 
his inquiries, has ventured to put forward a new scheme 
of regarding the entire group of bodies. This scheme is 
based on the recognition of two principal facts or propo¬ 
sitions :— 
1. The different platin-ammonia compounds are pro¬ 
duced, in the first instance, from platinous chloride, 
PtCF 2 ; and just as the platinum of this compound pos¬ 
sesses the property of taking up two additional propor¬ 
tions of chlorine, so as to furnish the platinic compound 
Cl 2 PtCl 2 , or Pt m, Cl 4 , so also does the platinum of the 
different ammoniated bodies obtained from platinous 
chloride possess the* property of taking up two propor¬ 
tions of chlorine, or its equivalent of other negative 
radical, so as to furnish platinic compounds correspond¬ 
ing to the original platinous compounds respectively. 
Hence the division of platin-ammonia compounds into 
the two classes of platinous and platinic, the compounds 
of the former differing in constitution from those of the 
latter class, just as platinic differs from platinous chloride, 
by a direct fixation of chlorine. 
2. The monad residue, or radical amidogen, ILN, is 
capable of becoming the monad radical ammon-amidogen, 
II 2 N. H 3 N, or U- No, just as the monad radical methyl, 
H 3 C, is capable of becoming the monad radical methylen - 
methyl, or ethyl, H 3 C.H 2 C, or H 5 C 2 .* Viewing sal- 
* ‘ Philosophical Magazine,’ 1869, p. 459. 
ammoniac, H 3 N.HC1, as the analogue of methylic chlo¬ 
ride, HjCHCl, the difference is noticeable that, while 
the ammonia both of sal-ammoniac and ammon-amido¬ 
gen is easily separable, the methylen both of methylic 
chloride and methylen-methyl is inseparable from the 
remaining constituents of the respective compounds. 
Hence the distinction between the two classes of amic 
and ammon-amic platinum compounds, the latter differ¬ 
ing from the former by an actual addition of diad am¬ 
monia, much as ethylic differ from methylic compounds 
by a virtual addition of diad methylen. The parallelism 
is indicated in the under-written formulae for methylic 
chloride and ethylic chloride, sal-ammoniac and ammo- 
nio-chloride of silver, respectively— 
HoCHCl HoCIH H 2 N.HC1 H 3 N \ Ag 
H 2 C / Cl H 3 N ) Cl 
The group of platin-ammonia compounds is thus divi¬ 
sible into the two classes of platinous and platinic, and 
each of these again into the two classes of amic and 
ammon-amic compounds. To these four classes must 
yet be added a fifth subclass of di-platinic compounds, 
including the nitrate-chloride of Raewsky, and the sub¬ 
sequently-discovered nitrate of Gerhardt and chloride of 
Hadow. The scheme of the constitution of the entire 
group, in accordance with the writer’s views, is exhibited 
in the accompanying table of the principal chloride, 
hydrate, nitrate, and nitrite compounds. 
Platinum Bases and Salts (proposed scheme). 
Tlatosamine. 
Pt"(H 2 N) 2 .2HCl 
Pt"(H„N) 2 .2H(HO) 
Pt"(H;N) 2 .2H(N0 3 ) 
Amo~platosamine (Reiset’s). 
Pt f '(H-H 2 ) 2 .2HCl.Aq. 
Pt"(H 5 N.,) 2 .2H(HO) 
Pt" (H 5 N 2 ) 2 .2 H (N 0 3 ) 
Tlatinamine (Gerhardt’s). 
CLPt""(H„N) 2 .2HCl 
CLPt ,,,, (H”N) 2 .2H(HO) ? 
(HO)”Pt ,m (H 2 N),.2H (HO) 
0Pt ,/,/ (H o N) 2 .2H(N0 3 ).3Aq ? 
(N0 3 ) s Pt""(H 2 N) 2 .2H(N0 3 ) 
Amo-platinamine (Gros’s). 
Cl 2 Pt ,,,, (H 5 N 2 )».2HCl 
Cl 2 Pt'"'(H 5 N;);.2H(N0 3 ) 
m0) 2 Pt'"'(H 5 N 2 ) 2 .2H(N0 3 ) 
(N0 2 ) 2 Pt»"(H 5 N 2 ) 2 .2H(N0 3 ) 
(N0 2 ) 2 Pt'"'(H 5 N 2 ) 2 .2HCl 
Amo-diplatinamine ) ci: 0 Pt 2 "''(H 3 N!)‘: 4 HNO 3 .Aq. 
(Kaewsky s etc.), j (N o 3 ) 2 OPt 2 'Al 44 .lHN 0 3 .Aq. 
fato fractMitjs. 
THE BETTS SUITS. 
Vice-Chancellor James’s Court, 28 th June , 1870. 
Betts v. Willmott, Betts v. Potts, v. Cleaver, v. Field, 
v. Brooks, v. Foster, v. Pratt, v. Stevenson, v. Smith, 
v. Hall, v. Hart, v. Ellis, v. Warm, v. Cooper, and 
v. Preston. 
The suits were, in 1865, commenced against customers 
of Mr. Rimmel, and they now came on for hearing. 
Mr. Willcock, Q..C., and Mr. Everitt appeared for the 
plaintiff, and Mr. Kay, Q.C., Mr. Eddis, Q.C., and Mr. 
Langley, for the defendant in each case. 
Mr. Willcock, Q.C., opened the plaintiff’s case, and 
was followed by Mr. Everitt, relying upon purchases of 
