116 
ON  THE  OILY  SUBSTANCE  IN  CHLOROFORM. 
or  other  products,  thus  showing  them  to  belong  to  the  amyl  series, 
and  that  their  formation  is  probably  due  to  the  fusel  oil,  of  which 
all  commercial  alcohol  contains  traces,  and  which  it  is  difficult  to 
remove  completely. 
These  liquids  differ  from  amylic  alcohol  by  their  odor,  taste, 
and  boiling  points,  and  also  in  their  re-action  with  oil  of  vitriol. 
Fusel  oil,  when  mixed  with  sulphuric  acid,  forms  a  purple  solution 
so  dark  as  to  be  opaque.  These  substances  only  become  light 
brown  and  retain  their  transparency. 
Soubeiran  and  Mialhe  have  mentioned  the  existence  of  the  oily 
substance  in  chloroform  prepared  from  alcohol,  but  they  have 
erred  in  describing  it  as  a  chlorinated  oil.  They  speak  of  it  as 
being  heavier  than  water,  and  chlorine  being  found  among  the 
products  of  its  combustion.  They  have  evidently  experimented 
with  a  mixture  of  the  substance  in  question,  with  chloroform,  which 
could  easily  be  mistaken  for  a  component  part  of  the  compound,  as 
its  characteristic  smell  is  entirely  masked  by  the  amyl  compound, 
and  it  is  retained  with  such  pertinacity  as  to  require  a  tempera- 
ture of  250c  to  separate  them. 
It  is  probable  these  substances  are  a  mixture  of  amylene,  pa- 
ramylene,  and  metamylene,  isomeric  modifications  of  a  product 
derived  from  amylic  alcohol,  by  the  subtraction  of  water,  and 
bearing  the  same  relation  to  amylic  alcohol  that  olefiant  gas  does 
to  alcohol.  They  are  thus  described  by  Regnault  (Cours.  element- 
aire  de  Chimie,  2d  edition,  tome  iv.,  p.  63.)  "  Amylene  thus  ob- 
tained is  a  colorless  liquid,  very  fluid,  boiling  at  39  C.  (102°  F.); 
the  density  of  its  vapor  is  2.45,  and  its  equivalent  C10  H10,  corres- 
ponding to  four  volumes  of  vapor  like  that  of  olefiant  gas.  Amy- 
lene is  susceptible  of  forming  two  isomeric  modifications,  paramy- 
lene  C20  H20,  and  metamylene,  of  which  the  formula  is  C30  H3o,  or 
C40  H40.  These  two  products  are  generally  formed  at  the  same 
time  with  amylene,  and  are  found  in  the  last  portions  of  the  dis- 
tillate, but  they  can  be  obtained  directly  by  distilling,  several 
times  consecutively,  amylene  with  chloride  of  zinc.  Paramylene 
boils  at  about  160°  C.  (320°  F.) ;  the  density  of  its  vapor  is  double 
that  of  amylene  and  has  thus  determined  its  formula  to  be  C20  H20. 
Metamylene  does  not  distill  until  about  300°  C.  (572°  F.,)  but4t  is 
probable  that  it  has  not  yet  been  obtained  in  a  state  of  purity." 
The  coincidence  between  the  substances  here  described  and 
