xvn MOLECULAR ARCHITECTURE 405 



spirit of wood, CH 4 O 



= methylene hydrate, CH 2 ,H 2 O, 



or methyl hydroxide, CH 3 'OH ; 

 its gaseous ether, C 2 H 6 O 



= methylene hydrate, 2CH f ,H 9 O, 



or methyl oxide, (CH 3 ) 2 O; 

 its gaseous chloride, CH 3 C1 



= methylene hydrochloride, CH ,HC1, 



or methyl chloride, CH 3 C1. 



Dumas and Liebig united, The discovery of METHYL 

 ALCOHOL, CH 4 O, and its derivatives greatly strengthened the 

 theory of radicals, since it showed that when applied to a 

 new group of ethers "in a series of very complicated 

 phenomena, one could predict everything, explain everything 

 and submit everything to calculation" (loc. tit. p. 621). It 

 had further become evident that the difference between 

 Dumas and Boullay's " ethylene " or " aetherin " and 

 Liebig's " ethyl " theory of the ethers was only of secondary 

 importance ; both radicals might, in fact, be regarded as 

 hydrides of the still simpler radical, C 2 H 3 , which Liebig 

 called "acetyl." 1 In just the same way ammonia and 

 ammonium could be regarded as two hydrides of Berzelius's 

 "amide" radical, NH.^. Thus, in modern formulae 



Amide = NH 2 = Ad "Acetyl" 1 =C 2 H 3 = Ac 



Ammonia =NH 3 = AdH Aetherin (ethylene) = G>H 4 = AcH 

 Ammonium =NH 4 = AdH 2 Ethyl = C 2 H 5 = AcH 2 



(Liebig, Ann. der Pharm., 1839, 30, 139). 



Having thus settled their main points of difference Dumas 

 and Liebig decided in 1837 to combine their forces in a great 

 campaign to establish a " natural classification of organic 

 compounds" by a detailed study of their component 

 radicals. A joint manifesto in reference to their programme 

 was issued in the form of a " Note on the present position 

 of organic chemistry" (Comptes rendus, 1837, 5, 567-572), 



1 The word "acetyl" is now used to describe the radical C 2 H 3 O 

 (see page 431). 



