OBSERVATIONS ON AMYGDALINE. 
193 
If amygdaline be represented as a combination of hydro- 
cyanic acid, N 2 C 2 H 2 , with another body, C 38 H 52 22 , and if it 
be admitted that, under the influence of the alkali, hydro- 
cyanic acid, by the concurrence of three atoms of water, be 
decomposed into ammonia and formic acids, amygdalic acid 
may be considered as a compound of formic acid, H 2 C 2 3 , and 
the body, C 38 H 52 22 , the combination of the bases separating 
one atom of water; thus — 
C 2 H 2 3 + C 38 H 52 22 == C 40 H 54 O 25 — H 2 = C 40 H 52 O 24 . 
Action of Emulsine on Amygdaline. 
As has been said, if a solution of amygdaline be placed in 
contact with an emulsion of almonds, the odor of hydrocyanic 
acid is immediately perceptible, and is much augmented by 
slightly heating the mixture. When this mixture is tested, 
the presence of that acid is demonstrated. Emulsine, the ac- 
tive agent in the emulsion of almonds, exists in the bitter 
almonds also; so that we find this kernel to possess two of the 
requisites for generating oil of bitter almonds. When the 
third, water is added, the emulsine of the kernel becomes dis- 
solved, through which it acts immediately on the amygdaline, 
and the volatile oil and acid are generated just as when the 
the former is used in an isolated state. To be able to study 
the action of emulsine with more care, Leibig and Wohler 
have deprived the almonds of their fixed oil by ether, so that 
the residue dissolves almost entirely in water, and forms a 
transparent slightly opaline liquid, which loses its transpa- 
rency by being heated to 180° F., and at 212° F. becomes 
a thick coagulum like a solution of starch. This liquid they 
call solution of emulsine, and it acts precisely as an emulsion. 
It was at first supposed that the quantity of emulsine influenced 
the amount of amygdaline decomposed, without any reference 
to the quantity of water; but by experiment it has been found 
that of two mixtures, in which the amygdaline and emulsine 
were equal in quantity, that most diluted yielded the largest 
