677 



boiling between 12 7 and 137C. did not serve to isolate any portion 

 of the distillate, having a fixed boiling point ; on the contrary, it 

 was evident that the range of the temperature of distillation became 

 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. 



{P TT 

 4 jj 5 requires 1475 per cent, of carbon. Mer- 

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

 sequently mercuric ethylomethide 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. 



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

 Methyl. 



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

 volume of zincethyl indicated the constitution of that body to be 



r\ TT i 



represented by the formula p 4 -rr 5 \ Zn 2 ; but it is evident that this 



^4 ^5 J 



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 methyl and ethyl, mixed 

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

 eighteen hours the decomposition of the iodides was complete, and 

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

 and zincmethyl distilling over ; the thermometer then gradually and 

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

 the product, consisting of pure zincethyl in considerable quantity, 

 distilled over. No evidence whatever was obtained of the existence 

 of an intermediate compound containing both ethyl and methyl. 



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



