MISCELLANY. 
179 
vertin in question demonstrated that many ages had passed since its de- 
posit. This precipitate of the sesquioxide owes its action only to its ge- 
latinous hydrated state, which will be perfectly preserved under the stra- 
tum of water from which it has been deposited, — Journ. de Fharmacie, 
Stearoptene of Turpentine, by R. Brandes.— Crystals have frequently 
been observed in the rectified essence of turpentine ; the researches of 
MM. Buchner, Hafner, Boissenot and Persoz, Geiger, Blanchet and Sell, 
have demonstrated that they constituted the stearoptene of turpentine. 
Moreover, other chemists, as MM. Sangiorgio, Lecaner, Serbat, Henry, 
&c, have also obtained an acid resembling succinic acid. A short time 
since, I observed some crystals in the essence of turpentine recently rec- 
tified. In order to collect them, I placed them upon a filter ; after having 
decanted the oil, I washed and dried them. But their quantity was small 
and did not amount to 15 grains! they were transparent with a vitreous 
hue ; some of them were unpolished; they were in part isolated, in part 
grouped in clusters, and under the form of stars; their size was found 
one-half to three lines in length, and one-fourth of a line in breadth ; they 
formed quadrilateral prisms ; by means of a glass it was perceived that 
the base was a rhomboid, but of which the angles did not differ sen- 
sibly from the form of right angles. The free extremity of the prism was 
terminated by a dihedral summit; the crystals sunk to the bottom of 
water. 
Heated in small quantity in a small globe, they soon sublimed into a 
fine filamentous mass and into capillary crystals, entirely white, some of 
which were more than an inch in length. When a greater quantity of 
crystals were taken, a portion became liquid during sublimation, and so- 
lidified upon cooling into a small cake, which heated anew again be- 
came fluid, and then sublimed without residue by the continued action of 
heat. The crystals completely dissolved in a large quantity of water by 
the aid of heat! they were equally soluble in alcohol and ether. The alco- 
holic solution may be diluted with several times its volume of water with- 
out becoming turbid. The essence of turpentine, when cold, did not dis- 
solve them as decidedly as alcohol or ether, but when heated gave place 
to complete solution, which did not become troubled upon cooling or 
agitation with water. The solutions of caustic potassa and of ammonia, when 
cold, do not perceptibly dissolve them; by heat the dissolution is complete, 
but does not become troubled when the alkali is neutralized, so that these 
bodies do not act but by virtue of their water of solution. Tried by test 
paper, the watery solution of the crystals appeared neutral. 
If concentrated and rectified sulphuric acid be poured upon a small 
quantity of these crystals, a deep red liquor is produced, which, as is 
also stated by Buchner and Hafner, exhales an odor resembling artificial 
musk; and the odor of oil of fennel is equally observed. Water pro- 
