CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 197 



form an organic substance. The utmost we were able to achieve was 

 to re-form organic substances by means of compounds which were 

 either themselves organic, or were derived from the degradation of 

 some organic matter ; and the problem was, how to form an organic 

 compound directly from inorganic elements. 



In point of fact, the attempt to reform organic substance from the 

 inorganic elements into which it had been analyzed was as idle as it 

 would be to attempt a reconstruction of a printed sentence by throw- 

 ing together the letters composing that sentence, after the type had 

 been " distributed." The analysis is elementary ; the synthesis was 

 not elementary. You may make an elementary analysis of saltpetre 

 resolving this compound into oxygen, nitrogen, and potassium; 

 but with these elements you cannot directly form saltpetre ; you must 

 unite the oxygen with the nitrogen to form nitric acid, and then 

 unite this nitric acid with potassa, to form saltpetre precisely as 

 you must unite the letters into significant words, and then unite these 

 words into a sentence. 



A French chemist, M. Berthelot, succeeded a few years since in 

 forming several organic compounds, by means of hydrocarbons ; but 

 as these hydrocarbons had themselves been obtained by the degrada- 

 tion of organic substances, the old problem remained unsolved ; he 

 had formed his sentence out of words, but he had not formed his 

 words out of isolated letters. And now at last he has achieved this. 

 It is but a modest beginning, but at any rate it proves the possibility 

 of a direct synthesis of the inorganic into the organic ; he has pro- 

 duced hydrocarbons by the direct union of pure hydrogen and pure 

 carbon. M. Berthelot ascertained, in the first place, that when ole- 

 fiant gas (CJI 4 ) is agitated for a long time with many thousand con- 

 cussions with sulphuric acid (So 3 , HO), that sulphethylic acid is 

 produced, as indicated by the following formula: C 4 ri 4 -|-2(HO, 

 SO 3 )^C 4 H 5 O,SO 3 ,HO,SO 3 . When sulphethylic acid is heated with 

 water, alcohol distils over, and sulphuric acid remains behind. In 

 connection with the artificial productions of alcohol, M. Berthelot's 

 researches on the formation of acetylene are very important, as tend- 

 ing still further to break down the distinction between organic and 

 inorganic chemistry. Acetylene is one of the most permanent of the 

 hydrocarbons ; its composition is expressed by the formula C 4 H 2 . It 

 is produced by the action of the induced electric spark, or by the aid 

 of heat from olefiant gas, and is also developed by the action of heat 

 on the hydrocarbons benzole and naphthaline. Berthelot has suc- 

 ceeded in preparing acetylene by the direct union of its elements, 

 carbon and hydrogen. The carbon is first purified by the action of 

 chlorine at a high temperature. This removes sulphur and metallic 

 impurities in the form of volatile chlorides. The carbon thus ob- 

 tained in a perfectly pure state may be submitted to the action of 

 hydrogen, aided by the highest temperature that it is possible to 

 obtain, but no union will take place. In the like manner the induc- 

 tive spark is equally powerless to effect their union. If, however, an 

 electric arc is caused to pass between two charcoal poles or electrodes 

 surrounded by an atmosphere of hydrogen, union takes place as soon 

 as the spark commences to pass. Acetylene being produced, and its 

 production continued as long as the electric arc is maintained, the 

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