3. That a salt containing a highly soluble compound with one equivalent hydrochloric acid and two of chlorine, may, by loss of hydrochloric acid, come converted into an insoluble bihydrochlorate.

The author states his intention of studying more in detail the substances oduced by the union of the primary and tertiary monamines with the loride and dichloride of platinum, espcially with the view of determining e amount of replaceable hydrogen in them.

omparative Experiments on the Action of Protochloride of Platinum on B-Lutidine and Lutidine.

I. B-Lutidine.-Equal weights of protochloride and base were mixed in I apparatus surrounded with a non-conducting medium. The temperare rose from 16° to 84°, only one gramme of each ingredient being emoyed. The hard brittle product gave on analysis numbers almost exactly greeing with the formula

CH"" N, PtCl.

According to Gerhardt's views the formula being doubled becomes the hloroplatinate of di-platoso-ß-lutidine, and may be written thus:

PtCl H (C1 H1 Pt) N2.

M. Hugo Schiff has recently presented to the Academy of Sciences a aper in which he states that chinoline combines with numerous metallic hlorides to form compounds having the general formula

It is evident that this formula satisfies the condition of the compound above described containing 6-lutidine. Representing the chlorine by X and the platinum by M, we have

But all these bodies are precisely analogous to the compound of chinoline with protochloride of platinum obtained by the author in the course of his researches on that baset.

II. Lutidine. When lutidine was treated with protochloride of platinum under exactly the same conditions, the temperature rose two degrees higher. The difference was therefore too small to found any conclusion upon. But the product, instead of becoming a hard brittle mass, remained of the con

sistence of treacle.

Comparative Examination of the Palladium Salts of ß-Lutidine and Lutidine.

I. B-Lutidine.-A mixture of known quantities of base, hydrochloric acid, and chloride of palladium was made and put aside. In four days the whole was a nearly solid mass of garnet-red prisms. Collected and dried, * Comptes Rendus, lvii. p. 837.

† Chemical Gazette, September 15, 1858.

agreeing with the formula

they weighed 816 milligrammes.

On analysis they yielded numbers

CH"'' N, HCl, PdCl.

Exposed for a long time to a heat of 100°, they become decomposed, one equivalent of hydrochloric acid being expelled from two equivalents of the salt. This was proved by analysis of the substance after leaving for five days, until in fact its weight became constant. The numbers obtained agreed with the formula

C14 H19 N2 Cl3 Pd2=C" H"" N, HCl, PdCl+C' H'''' N Pd, Cl.

Chloride of Palladio-ẞ-lutidyl Ammonium.-The author has succeeded in isolating the palladium base existing in the last substance. It is easily procured by acting on chloride of palladium in solution with ẞ-lutidine. It is not readily soluble, and therefore precipitates at once. On analysis it gave numbers almost exactly agreeing with the formula

N { Pd

CT H9!!!

Cl.

II. Lutidine. An exactly similar mixture of hydrochlorate of lutidine and chloride of palladium was made to the one in which ẞ-lutidine was employed. No crystals, however, were obtained by the time that the contents of the vessel containing the ẞ-lutidine had nearly solidified. After a month's repose, only 232 milligrammes had formed, instead of 816, as in the other experiment.

Comparative Experiments on B-Lutidine and Lutidine with Trichloride of Gold.

I. B-Lutidine. A mixture of the hydrochlorate of the base and solution of trichloride of gold became nearly solid. On heating, a portion dissolved, and on filtration and cooling, gave a beautifully crystalline salt a. A large portion, however, melted to a dark oil, which dissolved in boiling dilute hydrochloric acid. On cooling, the salt was deposited in crystals b. Both portions on analysis gave numbers agreeing with the formula

CH'""' N, HCl, Au Cl3.

II. Lutidine.-A similar experiment was made. The precipitate only occupied half the bulk of the liquid; it did not require one-fourth part of the quantity of water to dissolve it that was necessary in the case of the B-lutidine.

The author in his paper gives the results of experiments made with the five bases and solution of trichloride of gold. The differences are fully as great as those observed with the hydrochlorates.

Action of Iodide of Ethyl on ß-Lutidine and Lutidine.

I. B-Lutidine.-One volume of the base was mixed with two volumes of iodide of ethyl. The mixture was heated in a sealed tube for three minutes to a temperature of 94°. On removing the tube from the water

bath in which it had been immersed, and plunging it in cold water, the whole solidified at once to a mass of crystals. On analysis, they gave results agreeing with the formula

C9 H14''' N, I.

II. Lutidine.-A mixture in similar proportions was heated to the same temperature for the same time. On cooling, it showed no signs of crystallization. It required an hour's digestion at 100° to effect combination. Even then no crystals were obtained on cooling. In twenty-four hours onehalf of the product had crystallized. The rest remained in the form of a

syrup.

Platinum-Salt of Ethyl B-Lutidine.

This salt was obtained from the iodide in the usual manner. It crystallizes in superb orange-coloured fronds. On analysis it yielded numbers pointing to the formula

C H13 N, HCI, PtCl2.

This salt, when boiled, undergoes a totally different decomposition from that afforded by the tertiary monamines under the same circumstances. The mixture turns black, and deposits the platinum. After two days' boiling, it yielded 27.5 per cent. of metal. The original salt contained 28.99.

Experiments were also made with the bases and solution of uranium. The results need not be quoted, as they merely confirm the previous ones, and show differences of the same character.

Compound of B-Lutidine with Sulphate of Copper.

When ẞ-lutidine is gradually added to a solution of sulphate of copper, a copious pale green precipitate is formed. It dissolves in excess, forming a rich blue fluid. A small quantity of a pale green residue remains undissolved. The filtered solution soon becomes filled with brilliant blue prisms of considerable size. The air-dried salt retains four equivalents of water. On analysis the results agreed with the formula

Dried at 100° it loses two atoms of water, and at 200° it becomes anhydrous.

On the higher Homologues of Chinoline.

In his "Researches on Chinoline and its Homologues "*, the author showed that the distillate from cinchonine yielded a base above chinoline, to which he gave the name of lepidine. He also obtained a base of the same formula from coal-tar, which he subsequently showed to be isomeric and not identical with lepidine. He has recently proposed the name of iridoline† for this base. He also obtained from coal-tar a base having the formula C" H" N, to which he gave the name of cryptidine.

* Trans. Roy. Soc. Edinb. xxi. part 3. 377.

† Chem. Soc. Journ. New Ser. i. 357.

In this paper he shows that the distillate from cinchonine contains not only a base isomeric with cryptidine, and which he calls dispoline, but also several other homologues of still higher atomic weight.

The separation of these bases is very difficult. They boil at too high a temperature to allow of separation by means of fractional distillation, and, in fact, most of them distil above the range of the mercurial thermometer. The author gives the details of the methods employed by him to purify the mixtures of bases from resinous and tarry matters; they will not, however, be quoted in this abstract.

After trial of various methods of separation, the author finally adopts fractional precipitation of the platinum-salts. By following out this method, he obtained the platinum-salts of the following bases :

He has not given names to the homologues above dispoline.

Summary.—The author concludes from the results of the first portion of the investigation of which the above is an abstract, that the base, of the formula C' H° N, existing in the distillate from cinchonine, is distinct from that obtained from Dippel's oil.

He submits also that the second portion of the investigation shows the chinoline series to consist of no less than eight members, three of them being isomeric with certain bases from coal-oil.

In conclusion he calls attention to the fact that the eighth homologue of chinoline differs only by C* H* NO from cinchonine itself, and he is of opinion that bases free from oxygen exist in the distillate from cinchonine, containing almost, if not quite, as many equivalents of carbon as the cinchona alkaloids themselves.

V. "On the Synchronous Distribution of Temperature over the Earth's Surface." By HENRY G. HENNESSY, F.R.S., &c. Received May 26, 1864.

(Abstract.)

The results presented in the author's paper, entitled "On the Simultaneous Distribution of Heat throughout the superficial parts of the Earth" *, are confirmed and extended in the present communication.

*June 19, 1862. Proceedings, vol. xii. p. 173.

VI.. "Experimental Researches on Spontaneous Generation." By GILBERT W. CHILD, M.D. Oxon. Communicated by Professor PHILLIPS. Received May 26, 1864.

(Abstract.)

The experiments are twenty in number, and were performed during the summer of 1863. The substances used were in ten experiments milk, and in ten, fragments of meat and water. These were in all cases placed in a bulb of glass about 2 inches in diameter, and having two narrow and long necks. The experiments are divided into five series of four experiments each. In one series the bulbs were filled with air previously passed through a porcelain tube containing fragments of pumice-stone and heated to vivid redness in a furnace. In the others they were filled respectively with carbonic acid, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen gases. In each series two experiments were made with milk, and two with meat; and each substance was boiled in one case, and not boiled in the other. The joints of the apparatus were formed either by means of non-vulcanized caoutchouc tubing, or india-rubber corks previously boiled in a solution of potash ; and in every case, at the end of the experiment, the necks of the bulb were sealed by the lamp. The time of boiling such of the substances as were boiled varied from five to twenty minutes, and the boiling took place in the bulbs, and with the stream of gas or air still passing through. The substances were always allowed to cool in the same stream of gas before the bulbs were sealed. The microscopic examination of the contents of the bulbs took place at various times, from three to four months after their enclosure.

In every case but one in which the substance had not been boiled low organisms were found, apparently irrespective of the kind of gas in which they had to exist. The case in which they were not seen was that of the meat enclosed in a bulb filled with nitrogen. This bulb burst apparently spontaneously, and its doing so may be looked upon as a proof that in it also some change had taken place most likely connected with the development of organic life. Where the substances had been boiled, the results were as follows:

1. In the carbonic acid experiments, no sign of life.

2. In the hydrogen experiments, no sign of life.

3. In the heated air experiments, organisms found in both cases. 4. In the oxygen experiments, organisms found in the experiments with milk. The bulb containing the oxygen and meat burst spontaneously, therefore probably contained organisms.

5. In the nitrogen experiments, organisms were found where meat was used. None where milk was used.

No definite conclusion can be drawn from so limited a range of experiments; but it is worthy of remark that organisms were found here under the precise circumstances in which M. Pasteur states that they cannot and