206 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



acid, it yields salicylic acid. Lastly, M. Bcrthelot has succeeded in artifi- 

 cially forming glycerine, the basis of animal and vegetable oils and fats, and 

 also in forming grape sugar; the latter, however, is obtained by the contact 

 of glycerine with putrifying animal matter, and consequently cannot be said 

 to be produced altogether without the agency of vitality, although the 

 putrifying organic matter contributes none of its constituents to the new 

 compound, and docs not undergo any appreciable change in weight or ap- 

 pearance during the process. These substances yield such a numerous class 

 of derivatives that upwards of 700 distinct organic compounds can now be 

 produced from their elements without the agency of vitality. The processes 

 employed for the artificial production of these bodies, though deeply interest- 

 ing, present, with one or two exceptions, little or no analogy to the natural 

 mode by which organic compounds are formed in the tissues of plants ; but 

 the speaker endeavored to show that a close attention to the nature of the 

 inorganic materials assimilated by the vegetable kingdom, and their relations 

 to the more important organic compounds derived from plants, leads to the 

 belief, that such compounds can be successfully produced by processes 

 strictly analogous to those employed by nature. He contended that the 

 constitution of the so-called organo-metallic bodies, in which the production 

 of complex organic compounds from inorganic ones, by the replacement of 

 elements by organic groups, can be so clearly traced, afforded a valuable 

 clue to the foi-mation of organic bodies in general, and led directly to tho 

 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 car- 

 bon (that is, all organic compounds) are formed upon the model of the 

 oxides of carbon. It has long been known that, with slight and unimpor- 

 tant exceptions, the only materials employed by nature in the construction 

 of the most complex organic compounds, are carbonic acid, water, ammo- 

 nia, 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 wonderful fertility of the 

 ammonia model has been amply demonstrated by the labors of Ilofman 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 com- 

 pounds are built up; but it was necessary to confine attention on the present 

 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 constitu- 

 tion above referred to, of the organo-metallic bodies, and bearing in mind 

 the replacability of the oxygen in water and binoxide of nitrogen, and the 

 chlorine in tcrchloride of phosphorus, by organic radicals, Professor Kolbe 

 and the speaker were led to the following hypothesis regarding the constitu- 

 tion of several important classes of organic compounds. 



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

 or its homologucs, produces an organic acid, either of the fatty or of the 

 aromatic series, thus : 



Carbonic Acid. Acetic Acid. Benzoic Acid. 



g f ( C 2 H 3) ( < C 1S H 5> 



o C 2 ^ 8 M 8 



o I o I o 



2. The like replacement of two atoms of oxygen in carbonic acid, produces 

 either a ketone or an aldehyde, thus : 



