60 
DE. E. EEAJS'KLAKD’S EESEAECHES OX 0EGAX0-:METALLIC BODIES. 
pound which at that time did not coincide with this wew was Loyig’s so-called ethosti- 
bylic acid, the formula of which, SbC4H5 0 s, I suggested would probably be found to be 
erroneous*; and in fact, Lovig has since announced this to be the case: he now assigns 
to this compound the formula Sb(C4 115)302, 2Sb03, w-hich harmonizes perfectly with the 
general view I ventured to propound. The recent researches of MEECKf upon the com- 
pounds of stibethyl, although they probably prove the existence of ceiiarn new com- 
pounds of this radical, are by no means conclusive as to the non-existence of the bodies 
originally described by Lovig. With regard to those stanethyl compounds which have 
been since discovered, several of them correspond exactly with the known oxides of tin ; 
the remainder are also by no means iiTeconcdeable with my hj-pothesis, if we consider 
the polymeric attributes of stannic acid. Nevertheless, I conceive that the formulae, and 
even the existence of some of the more complex stanethyl compounds, require confiima- 
tion before these bodies can be employed, either for the support or disproof of any 
general theory of the rational constitution of organo-metallic compounds. 
Taking, then, this view of the organo-metallic compounds as my guide, I pointed out 
in a former memok J that the oxygen compounds of nitrogen might probably be repre- 
sented by corresponding organic compounds, in which one or more equivalents of oxygen 
were replaced by an organic radical : thus, to take one example, nitric acid, by the sub- 
stitution of methyl, should yield the following derivatives : — 
N 
II. 
III. 
IV. 
'C2H3 
"C2H3 
"C2H3 
C2H3 
0 
C2H3 
C2H3 
C3H3 
■ 0 , N- 
0 , ' N- 
C2H3, N- 
C3H3, N- 
0 
0 
0 
C2H3 
. 0 
0 
0 
. 0 
V. 
C,H3 
an. 
C3H3 
C3H3 
of which the fourth is already known as oxide of tetramethylammonium. My attempts 
to produce these derivatives from the oxygen compounds of nitrogen have hitherto been 
confined to the binoxide, in which I have succeeded in replackig oxygen by ethyl hr the 
manner now to be described. 
Action of Zincethjl upon Binoxide of Nitrogeii. 
If a small quantity of zincethyl, either pure or dissolved in ether, be passed up mto 
dry binoxide of nitrogen confined over mercury, the binoxide is very slowly but com- 
pletely absorbed in large quantity, without the production of any other gas. The solu- 
tion may be accelerated by agitation, but eA^en then it is exceedingly slow'. At the 
expiration of from one to four days, rhomboidal crystals begm to be deposited, and 
increase in number until the liquid finally solidifies. To prepare these crystals in 
larger quantity, about an ounce of zincethyl, dissolved in an equal bulk of dr’y ether, Avas 
placed in a flat-bottomed flask and supplied with binoxide of nitrogen fi'om a gas-holder, 
* Pliilosopliical Transactions, 1852, page 442. t Journal fur Prak. Cliemie, Bd. Ixvi. S. 56. 
4 ; Pkilosopliical Transactions, vol. cxliii. page 442, 
