^pteXe/iQoT' }  American  Pharmaceutical  Association.  433 
temperature,  attempts  were  made  to  dry  1  Gm.  of  powdered  crystals 
at  1200  for  eight  hours  in  a  current  of  hydrogen  and  at  1300  in 
vacuo  over  phosphoric  anhydride.  In  neither  case  was  the  dehydra- 
tion complete,  as  shown  by  the  fact  that  the  alkaloid  so  dried,  when 
put  in  vacuum  over  sulphuric  acid,  again  began  losing  in  weight. 
The  author  is  still  keeping  a  quantity  of  isocalycanthine  in  vacuo 
over  sulphuric  acid,  weighing  it  once  a  month.  It  is  quite  probable 
that  after  a  year  or  so  the  weight  will  become  constant.  In  the 
meantime  he  has  devised  a  method  by  which  isocalycanthine  can 
be  obtained  anhydrous  from  the  start.  For  this  purpose  the  crys- 
tallized alkaloid  is  dissolved  in  chloroform  which  dissolves  it  quite 
readily,  but  the  solution  is  turbid  and  does  not  become  transparent 
even  upon  addition  of  considerable  quantities  of  the  solvent,  show- 
ing that  the  turbidity  is  due  to  separation  of  the  water  of  crys- 
tallization. The  turbid  solution  is  shaken  with  calcined  potassium 
carbonate  and  filtered.  The  solution  is  kept  in  vacuo  over  paraffin 
till  all  the  chloroform  is  absorbed  by  the  latter.  A  crystalline  mass 
remains  which  is  anhydrous  isocalycanthine.  A  quicker  way  is  to 
reduce  the  volume  of  the  solution  to  one-third  by  passing  a  brisk 
current  of  dry  hydrogen  over  its  surface  and  then  adding  a  con- 
siderable amount  of  petroleum  ether.  On  standing  over  night  most 
of  the  alkaloid  crystallizes  out  in  anhydrous  condition^ 
The  alkaloid  obtained  by  either  of  these  methods  has  a  slightly 
yellowish  tint.  It  begins  to  darken  at  2200  and  melts  at  235 °- 
2360  C. 
Analysis  gave  C,  75.14  and  75.71  per  cent.;  H,  7.54  and  7.64 
per  cent;  N,  15.78  per  cent.  Calculated  for  C^H^No :  C,  75.77 
per  cent.;  H,  8.12  per  cent.;  N,  16.12. 
While  the  results  of  the  analyses  are  slightly  below  the  theo- 
retical, they  leave  no  doubt  about  the  alkaloid  being  anhydrous.  A 
number  of  salts  were  made  and  are  reported  upon  in  the  paper. 
The  Condensation  of  Chloral  with  Primary  Aromatic 
Amines. 
By  Alvin  S.  Wheeler  and  S.  Jordan. 
This  is  a  continuation  of  work  described  by  Wheeler  (lour. 
Amer.  Chem.  Soc,  24,  1063,  and  30,  136).  In  the  latter  paper  it 
was  stated  that  the  product  of  the  condensation  of  chloral  and 
O-toluidine  possessed  physiological  properties.    It  will  undoubtedly 
