260 BOGERT— CARBON COMPOUNDS. [April 20, 



moniiim cyanate in 1827, being an incomplete synthesis, did not 

 immediately overthrow the vitalistic doctrine. Then too, this synthe- 

 "sis remained for some time the only case of the kind, and urea 

 itself was regarded as standing halfway between inorganic and 

 organic compounds, because of the ease with which it decomposed 

 into carbon dioxide and ammonia. 



As the result of the classic researches of Liebig and Wohler, 

 in 1832, upon the radical of benzoic acid, the radical theory was 

 enlarged by both Berzelius and Liebig. 



Dumas, in 1837, explained the origin of so large a number of 

 organic compounds from so small a number of elements, by stating 

 that the latter unite to various radicals, which occasionally act as 

 chlorine or oxygen, and occasionally as a metal. Cyanogen, ethyl, 

 benzoyl, etc., were therefore said to constitute the elementary bodies 

 of organic chemistry, their elementary components only being. rec- 

 ognized when the organic nature of the compound was entirely 

 destroyed. It is easy to see therefore why the search for these 

 organic radicals was vested with such interest. In fact, the dis- 

 covery and isolation of these radicals became the most interesting 

 problem of the day and led to many valuable results. 



In the text-books of this date, we find practically all organic 

 compounds grouped under the two headings of Vegetable and Ani- 

 mal Chemistry ; very few organic substances remained in the Inor- 

 ganic part. An ever increasing number of these compounds found 

 place in the separate chapters on Carbon and its Derivatives. Thus, 

 in the manual compiled by Webster in 1826, when lecturer in chem- 

 istry at Harvard University, we find, in addition to CO, CO„, and 

 other simple compounds previously discussed with carbon, also the 

 chlorides of carbon, cyanogen, cyanogen halides, HCN, thiocyanic 

 acid, CS2 and thiocarbonates ; in Dumas' great " Traite de Chimie " 

 (1828) also rose oil, naphthalene, sweet oil of wine, naphtha, petro- 

 leum, turpentine, cyanic and fulminic acids. In most cases, the 

 acids, being most important, were the first to be considered under 

 the heading Vegetable Chemistry, then followed the other groups — 

 oils (fatty and volatile), carbohydrates, camphors, alkaloids, etc., 

 the rapid increase in the knowledge of organic compounds being 



