III. Products of the destructive distillation of the sulphobenzolates. -No. II

In a paper published by me in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, 1865, I described the manner of preparing sulphobenzolate of sodium and the products of its destructive distillation in a copper retort. These were chiefly sulphide of phenyl and a crystalline substance, of which too small a quantity was obtained to enable me properly to examine it. As I wished to procure these products in larger quantities, instead of employing small copper retorts, which were rapidly destroyed, I conducted the operation in tolerably large cast-iron ones heated in a gas-furnace, and found that they were not sensibly corroded even after a great number of distillations. The quantity of sodium-salt decomposed in each distillation was about 200 grammes.