VIII. An account of the artificial formation of a vegeto-alkali

Abstract

A few months ago Mr. Morson very kindly put into my hands, for examination, a quantity of dark-coloured, viscid oil, amounting to six or seven ounces, which was said to have been produced by the action of sulphuric acid upon bran. The tarry appearance of the oil was evidently the result of oxidation, for the bottle in which it had been preserved during a period of five years was very imperfectly closed, while a second and smaller portion, which had been kept in a stoppered bottle the same length of time, although dark in colour, was perfectly thin and fluid. A portion of the oil was introduced into a retort, together with a quantity of water, and the whole submitted to distillation; water, accompanied by a heavy, pale-yellow volatile oil, came over. At the close of the process the retort was found to contain a solid, pitchy residue, insoluble in water, but dissolved in great measure by caustic potash, and again precipitable by the addition of an acid.