ORGANIC BODIES CONTAINING METALS. 
441 
atoms^ that theory would undoubtedly have contributed to the development of the 
science to a still greater extent than it has already done ; such an assumption could 
only have been made at a time when the data upon which it was founded were few 
and imperfect, and, as the study of the phenomena of substitution progressed, it gra- 
dually became untenable, and the fundamental principles of the electro-chemical 
theory again assumed their sway. The formation and examination of the organo- 
metallic bodies promise to assist in effecting a fusion of the two theories which have 
so long divided the opinions of chemists, and which have too hastily been considered 
irreconcileable ; for, whilst it is evident that certain types of series of compounds 
exist, it is equally clear that the nature of the body derived from the original type is 
essentially dependent upon the electro-chemical character of its single atoms, and 
not merely upon the relative position of those atoms. Let us take, for instance, the 
compounds formed by zinc and antimony; by combination with 1 equiv. of oxygen 
the electro-positive quality of the zinc is nearly annihilated ; it is only by the action 
of the highly oxidizing peroxide of hydrogen that the metal can be made to form a 
very unstable peroxide ; but when zinc combines with 1 equiv. of methyl or ethyl, 
its positive quality, so far from being neutralized, is exalted by the addition of the 
positive group, and the compound now exhibits such intense affinity for the electro- 
negative elements as to give it the property of spontaneous inflammability. Teroxide 
of antimony has also little tendency to pass into a higher state of oxidation ; but when 
its three atoms of oxygen are replaced by the electro-positive ethyl, as in stibethine, 
that affinity is elevated to the intense degree which is so remarkable in this body. 
Taking this view of the so-called conjugate organic radicals, and regarding the 
oxygen, sulphur or chlorine compounds of each metal as the true molecular type of 
the organo-metallic bodies derived from it by the substitution of an organic group 
for oxygen, sulphur, &c., the anomalies above mentioned entirely disappear, and we 
have the following inorganic types and organo-metallic derivatives 
Organo-metallic Derivatives. 
As 
f^2 ^ 3*1 
As< C2 H3 ^Oxide of Cacodyl. 
L o J 
As< 
C2H3 
C2H3 
O 
O 
o . 
)>Cacodylic acid. 
Zn (C2H3) Zincmethylium. 
3 L 2 
