IO 
Journal of A gricultural Research voi. xxv, No. i 
sure in a meat press. About noo cc. of brown liquid, acid to litmus, 
was thus secured. It was rendered alkaline with sodium carbonate and 
distilled with steam under approximately constant volume. After ioo to 
150 cc. of distillate (which began to come over at about 92 0 C.) had been 
collected, distillation was interrupted and the material allowed to par¬ 
tially cool. An excess of phosphoric acid was then added and the 
copious precipitate of organic matter which appeared was centrifuged 
off, and the filtrate returned to the apparatus and distilled with steam 
at constant volume until two or three liters of distillate had been collected 
and the condensing vapors no longer gave an acid reaction to litmus. 
Distillation was then continued under diminishing volume until only 150 
or 200 cc. remained in the distilling flask. This residue was allowed to 
cool and extracted with ether for several hours for the recovery of non¬ 
volatile organic acids. 
The distillate obtained from the alkaline liquid possessed a neutral 
reaction and a strong odor of ethyl alcohol. It was inflammable, burn¬ 
ing with a blue flame. It was found that 5 cc. yielded a very copious 
precipitate of iodoform when subjected to the usual potassium hydroxid 
iodin test. Heated with a few drops each of sulphuric and acetic acids, 
it yielded distinctly the odor of ethyl acetate. 
With ammoniacal silver nitrate, 5 cc. of the distillate gave a heavy 
silver mirror. It also restored the color to magenta solution decolorized 
with sulphurous acid. It developed a pungent but not a lemon odor 
and a yellow color on boiling with sodium hydroxid. The color was at 
first clear yellow, then slighty cloudy, becoming clear again on further 
boiling, with the final development of reddish-brown, but not the yellow- 
orange color or the odors characteristic of either acetic or propionic 
aldehyde. The resorcine sulphuric acid tests for formaldehyde yielded a 
brown ring and a white precipitate, soon turning brown. The red color 
characteristic of formaldehyde did not appear. The gallic acid test with 
sulphuric acid was also negative for formic aldehyde. 
The liquid gave a slight but distinct positive test for acetone with the 
Gunning iodoform test. A portion of the distillate, slowly heated with 
a distinct excess of Fehling’s solution in a distilling flask and then dis¬ 
tilled, yielded reduced copper in the flask and a distillate which reacted 
positively for alcohol but no longer gave the aldehyde or acetone re¬ 
actions. The original distillate gave a positive reaction for ammonia 
with Nessler’s reagent, and it was noted also in performing the Gunning 
acetone test that a black precipitate (nitrogen iodid), which disappeared 
on standing, formed immediately on the addition of iodin and before 
ammonia was used. 
These tests show that the distillate contained a high percentage of 
ethyl alcohol, appreciable amounts of an unidentified aldehyde (not 
formic and probably not acetic or propionic), traces of acetone, and small 
amounts of ammonia. 
The entire distillate from phosphoric acid was titrated with standard 
barium hydroxid and evaporated to dryness on a steam bath. It usually 
contained from 30 to 40 cc. of normal acid, though some of the freshly 
decaying samples yielded only 10 or 12 cc. The dried barium salts were 
extracted with 10 to 20 volumes of absolute alcohol for several hours with 
frequent trituration, filtered and washed with alcohol. The filtrate when 
evaporated yielded only a very small residue. When warmed with a 
drop or two of sulphuric acid the residue gave a rancid odor. The 
addition of a few drops of ethyl alcohol and further heating developed 
