ON THE STATE OF ORGANIC CHEMISTRY. 



when distilled with baryta, into methylamine and carbonate of ba- 



rium" 



(B) of formations, the production of acetate of souium from so- 

 dium-methyl and carbonic anhydride f ; of acetonitrile from iodide of 

 methyl or methyl-sulphate of potassium and cyanide of potassium. 

 To indicate the possibility of these reactions, we must break up the radicle 

 C" H\ contained in the last formula, into C.CH 3 . The formula of acetic 

 acid will then be 



CH ] 



(cy- 



derived from the type 



by the replacement of one atom of hydro- 



gen in the type H H by the monatomic radicle C H 3 , and the replacement 

 of the other atom together with all the hydrogen of one atom H 2 0, and half 

 the hydrogen in the second atom H 2 0, by the tetratomic radicle (C) iv . 



5. The addition of one atom oxygen to the molecule of acetic acid has 

 the effect of rendering a second atom of hydrogen (see 1) separable from 

 the rest (production of glycolide, action of pentachloride of phosphorus) J. 

 We can express this by the formula 



H}(CH 2 )" 

 (C) iv { }0 



derived from the type 



The addition of one atom oxygen to this formula would convert one of 

 the molecules of H H in the type into H*0. The formula of glycolic acid, 

 the substance formed by combining acetic acid with an atom of oxygen, 

 would therefore be 



O 



HH 



derived from 



HH-l 



Jhh-I 



H 



H 



LH 



H 



0. 



* Cahours, Ann. Chim. Phvs. (3) liii. 353. t Wanklyn, Ann. Chem. Pharm. cxi. 234. 

 J Acetic acid + 1 atom oxygen = glycolic acid. We may venture to affirm that gly- 

 colic acid would react like lactic acid with pentachloride of phosphorus. 



