34 



tions of MM. Berthelot and De Luca. On studying the action of 

 iodide of phosphorus on glycerine, these chemists obtained an iodine- 

 compound named by them iodide of propylene, which is an analogue 

 of the chloride and bromide of propylene, previously produced by 

 MM. Cahours, Reynolds, and Hofmann, when submitting to the 

 action of chlorine and bromine the gases which are formed when 

 either amylic alcohol or valeric acid and its hoinologues are exposed 

 to the influence of heat. 



MM. Berthelot and De Luca have further shown that the result 

 of the mutual decomposition of iodide of propylene and snlpho- 

 cyanide of potassium is an oil identical with that obtained on distil- 

 ling the seeds of black mustard with water in an alembic. By this 

 remarkable experiment it is most clearly demonstrated that the vola- 

 tile oil of mustard belongs to the propylene series, a relation which 

 had been previously pointed out by Capt. Reynolds, but which he 

 has omitted to establish by experiment. If, then, we admit the exist- 

 ence of a hydrocarbon, C 6 H 5 , analogous to ethyl, C 4 H 5 , we get 



C 6 H 6 Cl Chloride of propylene. C 4 H 5 Cl Chloride of ethyl. 



C 6 H 5 Br Bromide of propylene. C 4 H 6 Br Bromide of ethyl. 



C 6 H 6 I Iodide of propylene. C 4 H 5 I Iodide of ethyl. 



C, H 8 S Essential oil of garlic. C 4 H 6 S Sulphide of ethyl. 



C 6 H 6 C 2 NS 2 Essential oil of mustard. C 4 H 5 C 2 NS 2 Sulphocyanide of ethyl. 



C 6 H 4 O 2 Acroleine C 4 H 4 2 Aldehyde. 



C 6 H 4 4 Acrylic acid. C 4 H 4 4 Acetic acid. 



All that now remained was to discover the keystone of this edifice, 

 in other words, to establish the existence of an alcohol to which the 

 preceding compounds might be referred, and by the aid of which a 

 still more numerous series of ethers, both simple and compound, 

 and analogous in every respect to the derivatives of ordinary alcohol, 

 might be obtained. After many protracted and unsuccessful attempts, 

 we have succeeded in producing the alcohol and ether of this series, 

 for which we propose retaining the name of the acryl series. 



In order to arrive at this result, we have submitted several silver- 

 salts to the action of iodide of acryl. There are but few acids whose 

 salts lend themselves conveniently to this reaction. Among the 

 various salts which we have examined with this view, the oxalate of 

 silver has furnished the most satisfactory results. This salt is most 

 violently attacked by iodide of acryl ; the reaction is complete after 



