Organic Bodies containing Metals. 



!^55 



to a still greater extent than it has already done; such an 

 assumption could only have been made at a time when the data 

 upon which it was founded were few and imperfect^ and, as the 

 study of the phsenomena of substitution progressed, it gradually 

 became untenable, and the fundamental principles of the electro- 

 chemical theory again assumed their sway. The formation and 

 examination of the organo-metallic bodies promise to assist in 

 effecting a fusion of the two theories which have so long divided 

 the opinions of chemists, and which have too hastily been con- 

 sidered irreconcileable ; for, whilst it is evident that certain 

 types of series of compounds exist, it is equally clear that the 

 nature of the body derived from the original type is essentially 

 dependent upon the electro-chemical character of its single atoms, 

 and not merely upon the relative position of those atoms. Let 

 us take, for instance, the compounds formed by zinc and anti- 

 mony; by combination with 1 equiv. of oxygen the electro- 

 positive quality of the zinc is nearly annihilated ; it is only by 

 the action of the highly oxidizing peroxide of hydrogen that the 

 metal can be made to form a very unstable peroxide ; but when 

 zinc combines with 1 equiv. of methyle or sethyle, its positive 

 quality, so far from being neutralized, is exalted by the addition 

 of the positive group, and the compound now exhibits such 

 intense affinity for the electro-negative elements as to give it the 

 property of spontaneous inflammability. Teroxide of antimony 

 has also little tendency to pass into a higher state of oxidation ; 

 but when its three atoms of oxygen are replaced by the electro- 

 positive sethyle, as in stibsethine, that affinity is elevated to the 

 intense degree which is so remarkable in this body. 



Taking this view of the so-called conjugate organic radicals, 

 and regarding the oxygen, sulphur, or chlorine compounds of 

 each metal as the true molecular type of the organo-metallic 

 bodies derived from it by the substitution of an organic group 

 for oxygen, sulphur, &c., the anomalies above mentioned entirely 

 disappear, and we have the following inorganic types and organo- 

 metallic derivatives : — 



Organo-metallic Derivatives. 



I P2TT3 ^Cacodyle. 

 C^H^ ^ Oxide of Cacodyle. 



O 



O 



'^ ■ 



"Cacodylic acid. 



