230 
ON  THE  COMPOSITION  OF  CREOSOTE. 
were  added;  a  little  ammonia  (a  trace)  and  perchloride  of  iron 
produced  a  dingy  violet  turbidity,  and  afterwards  a  discolored 
one.  On  the  fourth  day  the  distillate  was  again  colorless,  and  no 
coloration  was  produced  even  by  long  standing  and  on  the  addi- 
tion of  potash  ;  the  operation  was  interrupted,  and  then  the  creo- 
sote was  separated  in  the  same  way  as  the  first  time,  distilled, 
and  freed  from  water  by  rectification.  The  result  this  time  was 
about  an  ounce  of  purified  product,  the  general  properties  of 
which  agreed  with  those  of  the  first  obtained.  Its  analysis  gave. — 
C  73-53 
H  7-68 
0  18-79 
These  numbers  show  a  diminution  of  carbon  of  nearly  1-5  per 
cent.,  with  a  very  inconsiderable  decrease  in  the  quantity  of 
hydrogen,  but  still  no  agreement  with  Volekel's  numbers.  The 
small  quantity  of  material  remaining  was  therefore  submitted  to 
another  treatment  with  potash.  The  phenomena  were  exactly 
the  same  as  above.  This  time  also,  after  about  five  or  six  hours' 
boiling,  the  peculiar  violet-purple  coloration  of  the  distillate 
made  its  appearance,  and  its  behaviour  towards  potash  and  per- 
chloride of  iron  was  the  same.  After  eighteen  hours'  boiling 
the  operation  was  interrupted,  and  the  creosote  separated  and 
purified  exactly  in  the  same  way  as  before.  The  whole  quantity 
still  remaining  after  rectification  amounted  only  to  a  few  grammes. 
Analysis  gave — 
I.  II. 
C  73.43  73-72  48  =  288  74-03 
H  7-72        7-71       29        28  7-45 
0        18-75       18-57        9        72  18-52 
Thus,  even  by  a  third  treatment  of  creosote  with  potash,  no 
essential  conversion  takes  place,  although  the  distillates  indicate 
several  products  of  decomposition.  By  seventy-three  hours* 
boiling,  the  body  C24  Hu  O5  was  not  obtained. 
It  appears,  from  a  comparison  of  the  different  analyses  of 
Reichenbach's  creosote,  that  this  has  no  constant  composition ; 
in  the  existing  analyses  the  carbon  varies  from  75-82  to  71-92, 
and  the  hydrogen  from  8-16  to  7-10.  As  these  investigations 
have  shown  that  the  creosote  becomes  poorer  in  carbon  by  treat- 
ment with  potash,  it  is  very  probable  that  the  treatment  with 
