492 



unchanged by potassa in the cold, this substance exhibits in general 

 all the characters which distinguish the iodides of the so-called 

 ammonium -bases. 



The great mobility of the elements in thialdine, and especially 

 the large amount of sulphur which it contains, afforded but little 

 hope of successfully submitting the new iodide to the experiment 

 with oxide of silver, which is so characteristic for the ammonium- 

 bases. On adding oxide of silver to the aqueous solution of this 

 body, which, as has been remarked already, possesses an acid re- 

 action, iodide of silver is formed, and the liquid assumes at once a 

 marked alkaline reaction ; but since the almost simultaneous formation 

 of sulphide of silver, and a powerful evolution of aldehyde, suffi- 

 ciently indicate the perfect destruction of the compound, and since 

 experiment denotes the presence of ammonia in the liquid, it is im- 

 possible to decide whether the alkaline reaction observed after de- 

 composition is due to the liberation of an ephemeral ammonium-base, 

 or to its product of decomposition. 



My experiments appear nevertheless to establish that thialdine 

 belongs to the tertiary bases, that it is a nitrile-base. 



Ammonia 



fH 

 ia N < H 



IH 



Thialdine N{C 12 H 13 S 4 . 



To the complex molecule, C 12 H 13 S 4 , we must ascribe the faculty 

 of replacing the 3 equivalents of hydrogen in the ammonia. In 

 what manner, however, the elements are grouped in this complex 

 molecule, whether we have here to assume a very unstable tribasic 

 radical, or whether special molecules are inserted for each of the 

 hydrogen-equivalents in the ammonia ; to decide these points further 

 experiments are required. 



Liebig and Wohler, in their memoir on thialdine, state that the 

 whole of the nitrogen of this base is eliminated in the form of 

 ammonia, if the compound be decomposed by nitrate of silver. 

 This deportment appeared to furnish an easy mode of controlling 

 the formula of methylthialdine ; after the decomposition of this body 

 by nitrate of silver, I expected to find the whole of the nitrogen in 

 the residuary liquid in the form of methylamine. On performing 



