the cinnamic, which was first obtained by Dumas by oxidizing oil of cinnamon; it has since been prepared in much larger quantities by Simon from Storax liquida. This acid appears to give a series of compounds precisely analogous to those of benzoic acid. By the action of dilute nitric acid it is decomposed into benzoic acid and oil of bitter almonds: it therefore seemed probable that this acid would also be converted by the human body into hippuric acid. This idea has been carried out by Erdmann and Marchand, and found to ha perfectly correct. The dose of cinnamic acid taken at bed-time was from 80 to 90 grains. Experiments were made to determine whether hippuric acid contains cinnamic or benzoic acids, but without any decisive result. An acid is obtained by distilling hippuric acid, which is benzoic acid; that it is not cinnamic acid may be proved by heating it with a little chromic acid; cinnamic acid evolves the smell of oil of bitter almonds. Hippuric acid itself, treated with this oxidizing agent, gave faint traces of the almond-oil.—Journ. für Prakt. Chem., xxvi. p. 491. On Allantoin and Allanturic Acid. By M. PELOuze. Allantoin was discovered by Vauquelin and Buniva in the waters of the amnios of the cow, and has since been obtained artificially by Liebig and Wöhler, when acting upon uric acid with the peroxide of lead. To these chemists we are likewise indebted for the knowledge of its true composition and its principal properties. The formula they have given for it is C+ H3 NO. It has been recently submitted to the following experiments by M. Pelouze:-When slightly heated with nitric acid of sp. gr. 1-2 to 14 it dissolves, and the liquid, on cooling, deposits a considerable quantity of nitrate of urea in beautiful crystals. Hydrochloric acid has the same action on it, hydrochlorate of urea being easily formed; ander both circumstances no gas is liberated. When the nitric solution of the allantoin, evaporated and dried at 80°, is treated with a little water and ammonia, a white viscid matter is precipitated by alcohol, which, redissolved in water and again precipitated with alcohol to free it entirely from nitrate of ammonia and urea (the only substances with which it is contaminated), constitutes a new nitrogenous acid, having for its formula C10 H7 N O". It is uric acid plus 3 equivalents of water. It is white, slightly acid, deliquescent, but nearly insoluble in alcohol; on being subjected to distillation it affords a product strongly prussic, and a voluminous residue of charcoal. Acetate of lead and nitrate of silver give rise to white voluminous precipitates, which are soluble in an excess of the salts, and also in an excess of acid. The precipitate formed with ammoniacal nitrate of silver is far more considerable than that with the neutral nitrate. This new acid is generated under several other circumstances. It is always formed on decomposing uric acid and allantoin with the brown oxide of lead. Chlorine, nitric acid, and without doubt many other oxidizing bodies, equally give rise to it when brought into contact with uric acid. When chlorine is passed in excess into a boiling solution of uric acid, nothing, it might be said, is found in the liquid but the quadroxolate of ammonia, which finally itself is decomposed into several gaseous products. In that masterpiece of chemical investigation on the products resulting from the oxidation of uric acid, Liebig and Wöhler have proposed a theory to combine and connect a series of facts which they had observed, according to which, urea is formed in definite proportion at the same time as allantoin and oxalic acid, by the decomposition of uric acid with the brown oxide. M. Pelouze has frequently observed the formation of the new acid in this reaction, and several times obtained only allantoin mixed with small quantities of urea; and as the brown oxide changes allantoin, even in the cold, into the new acid and urea, he is induced to think that this latter substance is the result of the decomposition of the allantoin, which is formed without urea in the first stage of the decomposition of the uric acid. The new acid is called allanturic acid, as it derives its origin from allantoin, and has at the same time great analogy in its composition with uric acid; it is formed solely with urea, by the action of hydrated acids on allantoin; in fact, if we subtract from 3 equiy, allantoin 1 equivalent of urea 2 equivalents of water we have drated allanturic acid. =C12 H9 No 09 C H N° 0° 5 C10 H NO7, and add to the remainder C10 H7 N+ O, or 1 equivalent of the hy Water at a high temperature acts in a remarkable manner on allantoin, converting it into ammonia, carbonic and allanturic acids; no urea is formed during this change, as urea without the intervention of bases or of acids, with the presence of water only, is converted at a little above 212° Fahr. into carbonic acid and ammonia. These two decompositions were effected in closed tubes which were exposed for some instants in an oil-bath to a temperature of from 279° to 347° Fahr. From the above, allantoin would appear to be a peculiar kind of salt in which the urea pre-existed already formed, and which would separate easily when enabled to furnish to the substance to which it was united the elements of a certain quantity of water. M. Liebig has observed that allantoin, as to its constitution, is the urate of urea with the equivalent of water common to these kinds of salts. " Allantoin. Urea. Uric acid. Water. CH No 0o = C2 H+ N° O2 + C1 H4 N4 O + HO. But the above reactions do not admit of its being class d among the urates.—Ann. de Chim, et de Phys., Sept. 1842. Gélis made experiments on twenty-four patients, of whom fifteen took daily 8-12 grains of lactate of iron, three daily 20 grs. of Vallet's pills, two 60 grs. of hydrated oxide of iron, four finely divided iron reduced by means of hydrogen, and two healthy females who took no iron. Gélis took from 6 to 700 grammes (9 to 10,000 grains) of urine, distilled it with an ounce of nitric acid, evaporated the residue, and heated it until all organic matters were burnt. The saline mass, dissolved in distilled water, gave no trace of iron to all reagents. Iron consequently does not pass into the urine; but it may easily be found in the excrement of patients who are taking preparations of iron.-Journ. de Pharm., 1841. On Moschus artificialis and Oleum succini rectificatum. The artificial musk was prepared in the following manner:— 1 part Ol. succ. rectific. was gradually conveyed, in small portions, into 3 parts of fuming nitric acid contained in a porcelain basin, great care being taken that no evolution of heat took place: otherwise it easily happens that, from the energy of the action, the oil inflames, and the already formed resin is burnt to a porous, loose shining coal. The resin obtained was edulcorated with water until it contained not a trace of acid, and then evaporated in a water-bath to the consistency of a thick syrup. During the oxidation of the oil the odour of musk was quite distinct, and the resin, when perfectly washed with water, retained the same smell. Evaporated in the water-bath it possessed the following properties:-Colour deep reddish-brown, in thin threads, clear, transparent hyacinth red, easily soluble in alcohol, æther, and æthereal oils; the alcoholic solutions have an acid reaction, and on adding water to them, become opake and milky; smell, in larger quantities, resembling that of Colophonium succ.; in small quantities, especially when dissolved, distinctly like musk; taste burning, bitter, aromatic. Rubbed in a mortar with potassa it evolves ammonia; heated on platinum foil it burns with a strong sooty flame, leaving behind a porous shining coal. The brown alcoholic solution of the resin was decolorized (strawyellow) by passing a current of chlorine into it, also by sulphurous acid. On diluting it with water it still became milky, and the resin which separated possessed the smell of musk. Alcoholic solutions were mixed with alcoholic solutions of the following metallic salts:—with chloride of copper no perceptible change; with chloride of mercury and with nitrate of silver likewise no change; with acetate of lead a pulverulent yellowish-brown precipitate, which was entirely soluble in an excess of the acetate of lead, but insoluble in an excess of the solution of the resin. To prepare this combination in greater quantity a concentrated solution of the resin in alcohol was poured into an alcoholic solution of the acetate of lead until the precipitate appeared permanent; it was then brought on to a filter and edulcorated with alcohol. Dried at 176° Fahr. it had a light brown colour; decomposed when heated above 176°, giving off red fumes, while the thermometer, in an experiment made on purpose, rose rapidly above 356° Fahr. This lead compound was suspended in water, and decomposed by passing a current of sulphuretted hydrogen through it, extracted with alcohol from the sulphuret of lead, which on evaporation left the resin behind without any trace of crystalline structure. The analysis of the lead compound afforded, Equiva Atomic Calcu 100 parts of the resin calculated from the lead compound consist, therefore, of 100.00, and the atomic weight = 2102. To gain some insight into the change which had been effected by the action of the nitric acid on the Oleum succ. rectific., this itself was next examined. For this purpose the oil was carefully rectified; it had then a pale yellow colour and the well-known peculiar smell, was free from sulphuric acid, of sp. gr. 0-8795 at 61° Fahr., and did not explode with iodine, but was only coloured brown by it; potassium and sodium remained, so the author states, with their metallic surfaces quite bright in it, a fact which, if true, is very remarkable, the oil containing oxygen. It was soluble in æther and in alcohol; its composition was ascertained to be, in 100 parts, Carbon. 84.00 8.63 7:40 100.00 Compared with the composition of the resin contained in the lead compound, it is evident that, from the action of the nitric acid on the rectified oil of amber, a certain portion of carbon and hydrogen has been eliminated, and nitrogen and oxygen taken up, causing the formation of a nitrogenous electro-negative resin. Supposing the oil of amber to consist of several proximate constituents-a supposition which will be found hereafter to be fully confirmed, the process is by no means so simple. When rectified oil of amber was heated over a lamp in a glass retort it boiled at 266° Fahr., and strongly at 284° Fahr.; a nearly colourless oil now passed over, the ་ boiling point still roses at 500° Fahr. the residue in the retort be came tenacious, thick, and assumed a brown colour, but yet a colourless oil continued to pass over; even above 500° the temperature continued to rise. Heating was now discontinued, and a brown thick fluid substance remained in the retort, which possessed the smell of Colophonium succ., and behaved in the same manner towards solvents, such as æther, alcohol, æthereal oils, &c. To examine the other proximate constituents, it was mixed with from 16 to 20 its volume of concentrated sulphuric acid in high cylindrical glasses, when, if the mixture is effected gradually, no evolution of heat or formation of carbonic or sulphurous acids is perceptible; a heavy, dark brown fluid subsides, frequently forming on the sides of the vessel beautiful violet-red stripes, and when the requisite quantity of sulphuric acid has been taken, a perfectly limpid oily substance, very distinct from the heavy brown fluid above which it settles, is deposited. This oil has no longer the penetrating smell of the amber oil, but is pleasant, and somewhat similar to that of ripe fruit, calling to mind eupione. It was separated, by means of a pipette, from the brown heavy fluid, and shaken with distilled water, when very soon two liquids separated, one light and limpid, the other beneath white, milky and opake. They were separated from each other by means of a pipette; the white opake liquid left behind on evaporation a whitish-gray substance, which melted at about 104° Fahr.; when more strongly heated burnt with a strong sooty flame, was insoluble in cold as well as in boiling alcohol, did not change on being warmed with caustic potash or with concentrated sulphuric acid, resembled therefore parafine, or some nearly allied pyrostearine. The oily liquid, separated from the water by means of the pipette, was left in contact with fused chloride of calcium until it had be come clear and limpid, upon which it was carefully distilled. The boiling point was not constant; it even exceeded 536° Fahr., at which temperature the distillation was discontinued; a brown resinous mass remained in the retort. The spec. grav. of the liquid was 0645 at 34° Fahr.; that portion which had passed over last had a faint empyreumatic smell; that which had been received first, none. The oily liquid was limpid, dissolved iodine with a red colour without fulminating; remained unchanged when brought into contact with potassium, even when warmed; made fat spots on paper, which however disappeared on being exposed to heat; was soluble in alcohol of 0.810°, and in sulphuric æther, æthereal and fat oils; mixed with water, it soon separated; mixed with 3 parts of fuming nitric acid, it acquired a dark brownish red, subsequently a clear reddish brown colour; on adding water to this fluid it became milky and opake, and deposited, after some hours, a yellowish resin, which possessed all the properties of the above-described artificial musk; its alcoholic solution has a powerful smell, like the very best musk. The precipitate with lead had all the properties of the compound previously described; it is evident therefore that the formation of the artificial musk is due to this oily substance. As the oily liquid so much resembles eupione, M. Elsner calls it Succin-eupione,-and |