204 
SELECTED ARTICLES, 
Which gives: 
I. II. III. IV. 
Carbon, 62.22 62.71 63.04 62.30 
Hydrogen 8.39 8.80 8.66 8.44 
The mean of these analyses gives: 
Carbon 62.56 
Hydrogen 8.57 
Oxygen 28.87 
On comparing this composition with that of other organic 
bodies, I found that the kinovic bitter was identically consti- 
tuted with the bitter principle of Sarsaparilla. As the kinovic 
bitter, like salseparine, forms unstable compounds with other 
bodies, it is impossible to ascertain its atomic composition 
with certainty, and it is therefore only by an exact compari- 
son of their physical and chemical properties that we can de- 
cide whether they are isomeric or perfectly identical. Such 
a comparison was the more easy, from the full investigation of 
salseparine by MM. Poggiale and Thubeuf. 
M. Poggiale found that salseparine contained 8.56 water 
of crystallization. To determine the quantity of this fluid in 
the kinovic bitter, I first deprived this of its hygroscopic water 
in a glass tube, by means of the small pneumatic apparatus of 
Gay Lussac, then weighed it, and exposed it to a heat of 120° 
till it ceased losing weight. 
I. 0.22 grains lost 0.018 
II. 0.30 0.026 
III. 0.40 0.035 
Hence, 100 parts of the hydrate of kinovic bitter contain 
I. II. III. Mean. 
Kinovic bitter 91.S2 91.34 91.25 91.47 
Water 8.18 8.66 8.75 8.53 
M. Poggiale gives as the formula of salseparine: C 8 H 15 
s and for the hydrate of the same -f IAq. As I have no 
