170 
SELECTED ARTICLES. 
there remains a greenish black insoluble matter, similar to that 
of which we have already spoken. 
Here terminate my experiments relative to the action of 
chlorine upon organic salifiable bases. However imperfect they 
may be, we may nevertheless draw from them the following 
conclusions: 
1. Chlorine does not combine with the organic salifiable 
bases. 
2. It acts by decomposing them, withdrawing hydrogen to 
form hydrochloric acid. 
3. The result of this action is the formation of neuter sub- 
stances,, incapable of saturating acids, but little soluble in 
water, soluble in alcohol, and presenting a crystalline appear- 
ance only when obtained from quinia and cinchonia. 
4. Strychnia is the substance which gives the most posi- 
tive results; it affords a white shining matter, soluble in alco- 
hol and ether. This matter is composed of five elements ac- 
cording to the analysis before reported, compounded as fol- 
lows: 
Carbon, 
50.16 
45 atoms. 
Hydrogen, 
4.74 
26 " 
Nitrogen, 
5.19 
2 " 
Chlorine, 
24.50 
4 " 
Oxygen, 
15.41 
5 " 
5. The extreme sensibility of chlorine as a re-agent for 
strychnia, (a re-agent which had not as yet been discovered,) 
becomes a precious aid to investigation, in toxicological re- 
searches, relative to a substance so eminently poisonous. 
