422 
HYDRIDE    OF  AMYLE. 
coal  tars  and  bituminous  minerals,  these  naturally  suggest  them- 
selves as  cheap  and  ready  sources  of  the  hydride  of  amyle,  but 
from  these  it  does  not  appear  to  us  that  it  could  be  obtained  in 
a  sufficient  state  of  purity  as  an  anaesthetic,  even  though  it  may 
be  found  to  form  one  of  their  ingredients. 
Moreover,  the  difficulty  of  separating  it  from  other  ingredients, 
either  by  fractional  distillation  or  otherwise,  would  be  so  great 
that  success  would  be  obtained  at  too  costly  a  rate  ;  and,  after 
all,  we  fear  the  hydride  of  amyle  would  hardly  fail  to  repel  by 
the  taint  attaching  to  it  from  such  sources. 
With  a  view  of  getting  quit  of  the  expense  of  the  iodine,  which, 
however,  can  be  recovered,  we  thought  of  trying  the  chloride  in 
place  of  the  iodide  of  amyle,  but  completely  failed  in  getting  the 
hydride  from  it,  although  the  digester  was  subjected  to  the  same 
heat  as  the  iodide,  and  for  double  the  time.  On  removing  the 
preserve  from  the  plug,  after  proper  cooling,  an  escape  of  gas 
took  place  with  a  loud  report,  showing  the  presence  of  an  uncon- 
densable  gas,  most  probably  hydrogen ;  and  on  subjecting  the 
contents  to  distillation,  nothing  came  over  till  the  heat  reached 
the  boiling  point  of  the  chloride,  when  nearly  the  whole  of  it  dis- 
tilled :  besides,  the  zine,  instead  of  being  matted  together,  as  in 
the  case  of  the  iodide,  by  the  formation  of  oxyiodide  of  zinc,  was 
found  in  the  tube  quite  loose. 
In  making  the  iodide  of  amyle,  when  the  fusel  oil  has  been 
nearly  saturated  with  iodine,  a  solid  crystalline  matter  separates, 
which  becomes  more  abundant  on  the  cooling  of  the  liquid.  So 
far  as  we  have  examined  the  compound,  it  seems  to  be  a  subiodide 
of  phosphorus.  It  fumes  strongly  on  exposure  to  the  air,  and 
on  throwing  it,  after  being  firmly  pressed  in  blotting  paper,  into 
a  glass  tube  containing  water,  a  hissing  like  red-hot  iron  in  water 
is  produced,  and  on  applying  a  light  to  the  escaping  gas,  it  takes 
fire  and  burns  with  a  brilliant  phosphorus  flame,  and  gives  abun- 
dant white  fumes  of  phosphoric  acid,  and  leaves  a  red  crust  of 
suboxide  of  phosphorus  (?)  on  the  mouth  of  the  tube.  The  gas 
appears  to  be  phosphuretted  hydrogen.  The  water  on  examina- 
tion was  found  to  contain  hydriodic  and  phosphoric  acids.  Heated 
in  a  test  tube  it  melts  at  a  low  heat  and  boils,  giving  a  sublimate, 
which  condenses  in  crystals  nearly  colorless  on  the  sides  of  the 
tube.    On  applying  a  light  to  it  in  the  open  air  it  takes  fire, 
