SYNTHETICAL RESEARCHES ON ORGANIC ACIDS. 475 
Report of Synthetical Researches on Organic Acids. By Aurrep R. 
Carton, M.A., F.R.S.E., Fellow of St. John’s College, Cambridge. 
1. Ar the Dundee Meeting of the British Association in September 1867, I 
* was requested to continue my researches on the action of carbonic acid and 
sodium on alcohol, and a grant was placed at my disposal for the purpose. 
This Report is presented to the Association in compliance with the law 
which requires that, when a grant of money has been made at one Meeting, 
a Report of the progress of the research shall be presented at the next 
Meeting. 
2. One principal object of my labours during the past year has been to 
convert as large a proportion as possible of the sodium used in the reaction 
into organic salts, and I am now able to report that, instead of obtaining 
from 100 grammes of sodium only 7 grammes of sodium-salts of acids formed 
synthetically, I have succeeded in obtaining 175 grammes. 
To give an account of the conditions necessary to this result, and of the 
experiments by which it is established, is the object of this Report. 
3. My previous experiments had shown that, in order to obtain the 
largest quantity of synthetically formed salts, it was necessary,— 
(1) That the action of the sodium on the alcohol be modified as much as 
possible, and with this object the sodium was added gradually and in small 
pieces. 
(2) That the temperature of the alcohol be kept as low as possible, by 
surrounding the Woulfe’s bottle containing it with a mixture of ice and 
salt. 
| The manner in which this last condition influenced the reaction was no 
doubt by increasing the amount of carbonic acid which the alcohol dis- 
solved. It tended also to modify the action of the sodium. 
Now it occurred to me that the most effectual way to modify the action 
of the sodium, was to use sodium-amalgam containing such a small per- 
centage of sodium that it might act almost imperceptibly on absolute alcohol. I 
therefore determined to use sodium-amalgam containing about 2 per cent. 
of sodium. 
4, The apparatus used was very simple. Carbonic acid, from a gasogene, 
was washed and dried. The gas was then passed through a refrigerator, 
which consisted of a large wooden box lined inside with zine, and contain- 
‘ing a long spiral leaden tube. Ice was put into the box, and surrounded 
the tube, and thus the gas, on emerging from the refrigerator, was at 0° C. 
The refrigerator served also as a storehouse for the ice, and in it 50 lbs. of 
ice could be kept for several days without being all melted. The gas was 
then passed through a series of Woulfe’s bottles, surrounded with ice and 
‘salt, contained in a wooden trough lined with zine, and covered with a 
- Wooden lid. 
5. Absolute alcohol was obtained from Messrs. T. & H. Smith, of Edin- 
burgh, of sp. gr. -7957 at 60° F. It was distilled from sodium, and its sp. gr. 
was then -7940 at 60° F. Sodium-amalgam was prepared by heating mer- 
‘ury, and then adding sufficient sodium to make an amalgam of about 2 per 
cent. The amalgam was subsequently fused to render it of uniform com- 
position, the fluid part poured on a slab, and, when cool, placed in bottles 
containing dry carbonic acid. The amalgam was uniformly crystallized in 
Slender needles, which had not tarnished in the slightest degree when used. 
2x2 
