January 13,1872.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
565 
NOTE ON FUCUSOL.* 
BY JOHN STENHOUSE, LL.D., F.B.8. 
In a paper which I communicated to the Royal So¬ 
ciety of London in 18o0f “ On the Oils produced by the 
Action of Sulphuric Acid upon various Classes of Vego- 
tables,” after describing the sources, method of prepa¬ 
ration, and characteristic properties of furfurol, and its 
educts, I described another isomeric substance closely 
resembling furfurol, both in its physical and chemical 
properties, and which I named fucusol from the source 
whence it had been obtained, namely, Fucus nodosus, F. 
vesiculosus and F. serratus , etc. 
The nature of the substance which yielded furfurol 
was involved in considerable obscurity until the publica¬ 
tion of Gutzkow’s paper “ On the Fui-furol-yielding 
Substance in Bran,”]; which he found to be present in it 
to the amount of 15 to 20 per cent., and which, when 
boiled with dilute sulphuric acid, was converted into a 
brownish sweet syrup. This is the substance from 
which furfurol is obtained by distillation with sulphuric 
acid or hydrochloric acid. 
Fucusol. 
I have found that when seaweeds were boiled with 
very dilute sulphuric acid, containing about 3 per cent, 
of acid, that a substance corresponding to that described 
by Gutzkow -was obtained, which, when distilled with 
sulphuric or hydrochloric acid, yielded fucusol. In my 
paper of the year 1850 I have described the difference in 
the physical properties of furfurol and fucusol, and also 
the difference between the products obtained by the 
action of ammonia upon them and the bases derived 
from these. I have again repeated the examination of 
these substances with great care, and find my former 
statements to be correct. In addition to these, I have 
recently prepared the aniline compound analogous to 
furfur-aniline. § Fucusaniline hydrochlorate crystallizes 
in needles of a magnificent purple colour, and closely re¬ 
sembles the corresponding furfurol compound. 
As is well known, || when furfurol is boiled with water 
and silver oxide, metallic silver is deposited and silver 
pyromucate formed, which remains in solution. In a 
similar manner I found that w T hen fucusol was digested 
at 100° C. for five or six hours with an excesss of re¬ 
cently precipitated silver oxide and a considerable quan¬ 
tity of water, its odour gradually disappeared, and at the 
completion of the reaction a silver-salt was found in 
solution, whilst metallic silver was deposited, partly in 
a granular state and partly as a mirror, on the bottom 
of the flask. Sufficient hydrochloric acid was then 
added to the hot filtered solution to precipitate the 
silver. After the removal of the argentic chloride it was 
carefully evaporated at a temperature below 100°; and 
the brown semi-crystalline mass thus obtained boiled 
with light petroleum oil, which dissolved the acid and 
left the colouring matter. One or two crystallizations 
from boiling water rendered it quite pure. 
Analysis. —0 - 188 grm. substance gave 0’370 grm. car¬ 
bonic anhydride and 0’080 grm. water. 
Theory. 
Pound. 
. 60 
53-56 
53-68 
. 4 
3-57 
4-25 
. 48 
42-87 
— 
112 
100-00 
From this analysis, it will be seen that this acid, 
which I propose to call /3 pyromucic acid , is isomeric with 
ordinary pyromucic acid, from which, however, it slightly 
differs in its physical properties. The melting-point of 
* A paper read before the Royal Society, 
f Phil. Trans. 1850, p. 467. 
£ Zeitsch. Chem. 1870, p. 360. 
§ Proc. Roy. Soc. vol. xviii. p. 537. 
|l Ann. Chem. Pharm. vol. cxvi. p. 259. 
pure pyromucic acid is 130°, being nearly the same as 
that of the acid obtained from furfurol, which I found to 
be 133°, and which Schwanert* gives as 134’3°. The 
/3 pyromucic acid from fucusol crystallizes from its aque¬ 
ous solution in small rhomboidal plates, whilst the acid 
which I had prepared from furfurol crystallized in flat 
needles. 
Silver (3 pyromucate. —This compound was prepared 
from the pure /3 acid by boiling it for a short time with 
silver oxide and a sufficient quantity of water, filtering, 
and setting aside to crystallize. A single recrystalliza¬ 
tion from boiling water, in which it is only moderately 
soluble, rendered it quite pure. On cooling the hot 
aqueous solution, the silver f3 pyromucate is obtained in 
long flat needles, whilst the corresponding salt of the 
ordinary acid forms small crystalline scales ; O'505 grm. 
of silver-salt gave 0-330 grm. argentic chloride, which 
corresponds to 49-18 per cent, of metallic silver. Tho 
formula C- H 3 Ag0 3 requires 49-32 per cent. 
From this silver determination it will be seen that this 
compound is isomeric with the ordinary silv er a pyromu¬ 
cate, C 5 H 3 Ag 0 3 .— Chemical News. 
THE CONSERVATION OF FORESTS AND THE 
PRODUCTION OF POTASH, f 
In the course of a lecture upon the importance of 
adopting a proper system of forest-culture in the colony 
of Victoria, by Baron Ferdinand von Mueller, Ph.D., 
F.R.S., the Government Botanist for Victoria, and 
Director of the Botanic Gardens of Melbourne, he thus 
points out the influence such a course would have upon 
the supply of potash, and gives some very interesting 
particulars concerning its production. He says :— 
Among the undeveloped w r ood resources we must not 
pass that referring to potash, particularly as this alkali 
can be obtained without sacrifice of any valuable timber, 
and from localities not accessible to the wood trade. 
For the preparation of potash the wood, bark, branches, 
and foliage are burnt in pits sunk 3 or 4 feet in the 
ground; the incineration is continued till the pit is al¬ 
most filled with ashes. Young branches and leaves are 
usually much richer in potash than the stem wood, 
hence they should not be rejected. The ashes thus ob¬ 
tained are placed in tubs or casks on straw, over a false 
bottom. Cold water in moderate quantities is poured 
over the ash, and the first strong potash liquid removed 
for evaporation in flat iron vessels, while tho weaker fluid 
is used for the lixiviation of fresh ashes. 
While the evaporation proceeds, fresh portions of 
§trong liquid are added until the concentrated boiling- 
fluid assumes a rather thick consistence. At last, with 
mild heat and final constant stirring, the wdiole is eva¬ 
porated to dryness. This dry mass represents crude 
potash, more or less impure, according to the nature of 
the wood employed. A final heating in rough furnaces 
is needed, to expel sulphur combinations, water and em- 
pyreumatic substances; also, to decompose colouring- 
principles. Thus pearlash is obtained. 
Pure carbonate of potash in crude potash varies from 
40 to 80 per cent. Experiments, as far as they were in¬ 
stituted in my laboratory, have given the following ap¬ 
proximate results with respect to the contents of potash 
in some of our most common trees. The w r ood of our 
she-oaks ( Casuarina suberosa and C. quadrivalvis ), as w r ell 
as that of the black or silver Wattle ( Acacia decurrens), 
is somewhat richer than wood of the British oak, but far 
richer than the ordinary pine-woods. 
The stems of the Victorian blue-gum tree (Eucalyptus 
globulus ), and the so-called swamp tea-tx-ee (Melaleuca 
ericifolia), yield about as much potash as European beech. 
The foliage of the blue gum-tree proved particularly rich 
in this alkali; and as it is heavy and easily collected at 
* Ann. Chem. Pharm. vol. cxvi. p. 257. 
f Gardeners' Chronicle (1872), p. 11. 
