512  Amylene  Hydrate,  a  New  Hypnotic.     {Ara- o°^v;S^TWu 
crystalline  precipitate  is  filtered  and  washed  with  a  little  water.  It 
consists  of  thebaine  salicylate.  On  washing  this  on  the  filter  with 
dilute  ammonia,  until  ferric  chloride  ceases  to  indicate  salicylic  acid  in 
the  washings,  pure  alkaloid  remains  on  the  filter.  The  filtrate  con- 
tains traces  of  narceine,  thebaine,  the  excess  of  sodium  salicylate,  and 
all  the  codeine  and  morphine.  It  is  acidified  with  hydrochloric  acid ; 
after  remaining  some  time  the  salicylic  acid  separated  is  filtered  off,, 
and  the  filtrate  is  repeatedly  shaken  with  chloroform  to  remove  the 
remainder  of  the  salicylic  acid,  narceine,  and  thebaine ;  then  the 
chloroform  is  removed  by  a  gentle  heat,  the  liquid  is  carefully  neu- 
tralized and  finally  mixed  with  potassium  thiocyanate  solution.  After 
twenty-four  hours  the  precipitate  consists  of  codeine  hydrogen  thiocy- 
anate. The  filtrate  contains  the  morphine,  which  can  be  precipitated 
by  slight  excess  of  ammonia.  In  many  cases  the  above  methods  can 
be  employed  quantitatively.  Mixtures  of  narcotine  and  morphine 
precipitated  with  sodium  acetate  gave  from  97'15  to  100  per  cent,  of 
the  narcotine.  Narcotine  in  presence  of  morphine,  codeine,  and  the- 
baine gave  99*43  per  cent.  Papaverine  precipitated  by  acetate  in 
presence  of  morphine  gave  98*15  per  cent,  of  the  total  present.  The 
same  alkaloid  in  presence  of  morphine,  codeine,  and  thebaine  gave 
97*02  per  cent.  In  the  two  experiments  where  thebaine  was 
present  over  90  per  cent,  of  that  alkaloid  was  obtained  by  precipitating 
with  sodium  salicylate.  The  separation  of  papaverine  by  means  of 
potassium  ferricyanide  is  very  complete.  Codeine  cannot  be  quantita- 
tively separated  from  morphine  by  means  of  potassium  thiocyanate. 
AMYLENE  HYDRATE,  A  NEW  HYPNOTIC. 
By  Prof.  J.  v.  Mering. 
The  new  hypnotic  which  Professor  v.  Mering,  of  Strassburg,  intro- 
duces to  our  notice  {Therap.  Monat.,  July,  1887;  Med.  Chronicle, 
Sept.),  is  a  tertiary  amyl  alcohol  discovered  by  Wurtz.  According  to 
the  Pharm.  Zeitung  (July  9th,  1887),  it  is  prepared  by  heating  amy- 
lene (which  contains  trimethyl  ethylene)  with  sulphuric  acid.  Amyl- 
sulphuric  acid  is  formed,  and  this  when  distilled  with  water  is  con- 
verted into  the  new  soporific  which  is  now  known  to  chemists  as 
dimethyl-ethyl-carbinol,  though  v.  Mering  has  thought  it  well  to 
retain  the  older  name.  Amylene  hydrate  is  a  colorless  fluid  boiling 
at  100°  C,  and  having  a  specific  gravity  of  *81.    It  is  soluble  in 
