226 Royal Society. 



wider each time the operation was repeated. A section boiling be- 

 tween 127° and 133° gave, on analysis, 13-68 per cent, of carbon, 

 whilst another section, boiling between 141° and 143°, gave 16'71. 



{C H 

 p^TT^ requires 14"75 per cent, of carbon. Mer- 

 curic methide boils at 96°, and mercuric ethide at 159° C; con- 

 sequently mercuric cthylomethide might be expected to boil at about 

 128°. The author considers it more than probable that mercuric 

 ethylomethide was formed in the above reaction ; but subsequent 

 distillations gradually transformed it, more or less perfectly, into a 

 mixture of mercuric ethide and mercuric methide. 



-^«{8:!5:}={giSg:it 



V. Action of Zinc upon a Mixture of the Iodides of Ethyle and 



Methyle. 

 In a former memoir* the author pointed out that the vapour 

 volume of zincethyle indicated the constitution of that body to be 



r* XT \ 



represented by the formula p' tt' [ Zn^ ; but it is evident that this 



formula would receive important confirmation if the double equiva- 

 lent of zinc could be made to combine with two radicals of different 

 composition. An attempt was made to produce such a body by 

 submitting simultaneously the iodides of methyle and ethyle, mixed 

 with an equal volume of ether, to the action of zinc at 100° C. In 

 eighteen hours the decomposition of the iodides was complete, and 

 the distilled product, on being rectified, began to boil at 38°, ether 

 and zincmethyle distilling over ; the thermometer then gradually and 

 uniformly rose to 120°C., at which temperature the remainder of 

 the product, consisting of pure zincethyle in considerable quantity, 

 distilled over. No evidence whatever was obtained of the existence 

 of an intermediate compound containing both ethyle and methyle. 



VI. Zincmethyle. 

 The experiments detailed in the foregoing pages requiring the use 

 of considerable quantities of zincmethyle, the author's attention was 

 directed to the preparation of this body in much larger quantities 

 than could be obtained by the operations in sealed glass tubes pre- 

 viously' described by him. He found that the preparation of a strong 

 ethereal solution of zincmethyle succeeded most satisfactorily in a 

 copper digester, heated to 100° C; in fact, the decomposition by 

 zinc of an ethereal solution of iodide of methyle is much more quickly 

 and perfectly eifected than that of a similar solution of iodide of 

 ethyle ; but on submitting the product to rectification, a liquid was 

 obtained boiling at about 51°C., spontaneously inflammable to the 

 last degree, and possessing the intolerable odour of zincmethyle. 

 On analysis, however, it yielded numbers closelj' agreeing with the 



The specific gravity of its vapour was 3*1215, a number which does 



not correspond with the theoretical specific gravity of a compound of 



* Transactions of tlie Royal Society for 1855, p. 266. 



