286 Mr. J. A. Wanklyn on the Action of the 



This we prove from a consideration of the equivalent expansions. 

 Since when x and y are not ambiguous, e*x e y =€ x+ y, therefore 



+ ... 



But since the laws of x n are the same whether the factors are 

 ambiguous or not, therefore e*x €^ = € x+ ^ when x and y are 

 ambiguous. 



XXXVIII. On the Action of the Alkali-metals on the Ethers of 

 the Fatty Acids. By J. Alfred Wanklyn, Corresponding 

 Member of the Royal Bavarian Academy*. 



THE remark with which Erankland and Duppa close their 

 recent communication to the Royal Society f induces me to 

 place on record the following statement. 



In Lowig's Organischen Chemie, which is now an old book, 

 there are several accounts of his and Weidmann's work on the 

 action of potassium and sodium on different ethers of the fatty- 

 acids, and also on benzoic ether, — the papers from which these 

 accounts are taken having been published in and about the 

 year 1840. 



The general drift of this work was that the alkali-metals form 

 compounds from which alcohol is liberated by the action of water 

 (i. e. ethylates), and complex salts of new acids derived from the 

 fatty acid by a process of reduction. In particular the action of 

 potassium on acetic ether was investigated, and the result 

 arrived at that there is no disengagement of permanent gas, but 

 that ethylate of potassium and the potash salt of a complex 

 organic acid (a reduced acetic acid) is produced. 



In this state the subject remained until comparatively recently, 

 when it was investigated by Geuther, Greiner, Frankland, Duppa, 

 and myself. It would not, however, be right to pass over a 

 note, which is to be found under Acetic Ether in the English 

 translation of Gmelin (vol. viii. p. 499), wherein the very happy- 

 suggestion is made that the reaction probably consists in the 

 formation of ethylate of potassium and acetylide of potassium. 

 With this solitary exception, no attempt either at explanation 

 or at further investigation is recorded until the appearance of 

 Geuther's paper in 1864. 



Geuther investigated the salt of the complex organic acid, and 

 deduced the formula C 6 H 9 NaO 3 from his analyses, and prepared 

 the hydrogen, ethyle, and methyle derivatives of it. He ex- 

 plained its generation from acetic ether and sodium by an equa- 



* Communicated by the Author. 



t Page 309 of the present Number. v ._ 



