ASPARTIC ACID FROM BIMALATE OF AMMONIA. 245 
purplish-red color. It is this combination which is most 
deserving of attention, on account of the beauty of the color 
produced, which may probably admit of application in the 
arts. 
If one part of caustic potash be added to two parts of 
erythrosin, and thirty parts of water, a purplish-red solu- 
tion will be obtained, which will have acquired its full inten- 
sity of color after standing for a few days. After filtering 
the liquor through cotton, it may be kept for a month with- 
out alteration, and may be used as a coloring agent. In 
fact, one part of erythrosin will thus afford as much color 
as six parts of cochineal. If a few drops of the alkaline 
solution be added to a piece of chalk or magnesia, it will be 
absorbed, and will form a rose-colored powder, as bright as 
if colored with carmine. 
Eryihrosate of Ammonia, after driving off the excess of 
ammonia, possesses the same properties as the potash salt ; 
but its coloring power is more than four times greater. It 
may be advantageously used for coloring soaps, and for 
other similar purposes. — Pharmaceutical Journal, May, 
1850, from Journal de Pharmacie. 
ART. LVIII. — ON THE FORMATION OF ASPARTIC ACID 
FROM BIMALATE OF AMMONIA. 
By M. Dessaignes. 
We are indebted to M. Piria for the knowledge of the in- 
teresting fact, that asparagine' and aspartic acid, submitted 
to the oxidizing action of nitrous gas, disengage nitrogen, 
and leave a residue of malic acid. He thus demonstrated 
by analysis that these two substances may be considered as 
amides of malic acid, corresponding for instance to oxamide 
and oxaminic acid. If this be the case, we ought to be able 
to reproduce asparagine and aspartic acid by synthesis. 
