﻿Action of Dehydrating Agents on Organic Bodies. 25 



obtaining these cyanides in quantity; or, rather, it is nothing like 

 so available as Hofmann's process with chloroform. After ob- 

 taining these cyanides, we attempted to obtain analogous bodies 

 from the compound acetamides, bat without success. Action 

 took place fast enough; but charring and other splitting up oc- 

 curred. 



Anhydrous phosphoric acid, by its action on the compound 

 formamides, also produces the pseudo-cyanides. 



The conclusion we draw from the whole of the foregoing is 

 that the pseudo-cyanides have as much right to be regarded as 

 cyanides as the common cyanides, and that we must look for the 

 difference between these classes of cyanides in differences with 

 cyanogens themselves. 



III. Action of Chloride of Zinc on the Oxalic Ethers, 



The numerous interesting reactions which the oxalic ethers 

 are known to undergo rendered it probable that the action of 

 dehydrating agents on these ethers would be worth studying. 

 We have therefore treated three of the oxalic ethers with chlo- 

 ride of zinc. These ethers were the oxalates of methyle, ethyle, 

 and amyle. We expected either that an actual dehydration of 

 the ethers would take place at the expense of the oxygen of the 

 oxalic acid and hydrogen of the alcohol radical, or that, simply, 

 double decomposition would take place, and that we should 

 obtain oxalate of zinc and chloride of the alcohol radical. Neither 

 of these two results ensued. 



Chloride of Zinc and Oxalate of Ethyl. — When these substances 

 are heated together, torrents of gas are evolved. This gas is 

 partially soluble in water. That portion of it which is not so- 

 luble in water is completely and readily soluble in bromine. It 

 burns with a luminous flame, and is in fact ethylene. The so- 

 luble gas is hydrochloric acid. Oxalate of zinc is the solid pro- 

 duct of the reaction. The reaction consists, therefore, in a double 

 decomposition of oxalic ether and chloride of zinc ; but instead 

 of obtaining chloride of ethyle, we have its elements in the form 

 of hydrochloric acid and ethylene. 



Chloride of Zinc and Oxalate of Amyle. — The reaction in this 

 case is exactly similar to the one above described, excepting that 

 the amylene produced is for the most part polymerized. 



Chloride of Zinc and Oxalate of Methyle. — When these sub- 

 stances are heated together, gas is evolved as before, in large 

 quantities. When this gas is passed through ice-cold water, a 

 very considerable portion of it is condensed, and an oily layer of 

 liquid is formed on the surface of the water. On conducting 

 the non-condensed gases through a U-tube surrounded with ice 

 and salt, some more light liquid condenses. There is, however, 



