540 



Professor Fra7ihla7ul, on the Production of [May 28, 



produced by processes strictly analogous to those employed by 

 nature. He contended that the constitutioji of the so-called organo- 

 luetallic bodies, in which tlie production of complex organic com- 

 pounds from inorganic ones by the replacement of elements by 

 organic groups, can be so clearly traced, afforded a valuable clue to 

 the formation of organic bodies in general, and led directly to the 

 conclusion, that if the organic compounds of the metals be formed 

 upon the model of the oxides of the respective metals, the organic 

 compounds of carbon (that is, all organic compounds) are formed 

 upon the model of the oxides of carbon. 



It has long been known, that with slight and unimportant excep- 

 tions, the only materials employed by nature in the construction of 

 the most complex organic compounds, are carbonic acid, water, 

 ammonia, and nitric acid. The fact that a vast number of organic 

 compounds are cast in the molecular mould of water, has been 

 proved by the ingenious researches of Williamson and Gerhardt; 

 whilst the wouderful fertility of the ammonia model has been amply 

 demonstrated by the labours of Hofmann and Wurtz. It would also 

 not be difficult, to prove the claim of nitric acid to be considered as 

 a third model, upon which a number of other organic compounds 

 are built up ; but it was necessary to confine attention on the pre- 

 sent occasion to the consideration of carbonic acid only, as a 

 model upon which a very large number of organic bodies are 

 formed. 



Guided by the constitution above referred to, of the organo-metal- 

 lic bodies, and bearing in mind the replacibility of the oxygen in 

 water and binoxide of nitrogen, and the chlorine in terchloride of 

 phosphorus, by organic radicals ; Professor Kolbe and the speaker 

 were led to the following hypothesis regarding the constitution of 

 several important classes of organic compounds. 



1. The replacement of one atom of oxygen in carbonic acid by 

 hydrogen, or its homologues, produces an organic acid, either of 

 the fatty or of the aromatic series, thus : — 



Carbonic Acid. 



o 



Acetic Acid. 



I (C. H3) 



o 



M o 



o 



Benzoic Acid. 



(C.. H,) 



O 



O 



O 



2. The like replacement of two atoms of oxygen in carbonic 

 acid, produces either a ketone, or an aldehyde, thus : — 



