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ON  THE  ISOLATION  OF  THE  EAHICAL,  3^IEECIJEIC  METHYL. 
Mercuric  Ethyl. 
The  foregoing  experiments  left  little  doubt  of  the  existence  of  a corresponding  body 
in  the  ethyl  series.  There  appears,  however,  to  be  some  difficulty  in  obtaining  it  in 
quantity,  from  the  ease  with  which  the  body  undergoes  decomposition  at  a high  tem- 
perature. 
Although  little  less  than  one  pound  of  iodide  of  mercurous  ethyl  was  digested  with 
cyanide  of  potassium,  the  distillate  obtained  was  too  small  in  quantity  to  permit  of  more 
than  a general  examination. 
The  greater  part  of  the  new  body  is  resolved  by  the  heat  employed  into  mercury, 
paracyanogen,  and  gaseous  matters,  of  an  offensive  odour.  The  product  in  the  receiver 
was  distilled  in  a water-bath  until  all  iodide  of  ethyl  was  driven  off.  A watery  liquid 
remained  having  a substratum  of  an  oily  consistence,  which  strongly  gi’eased  the  sides 
of  the  retort.  At  an  advanced  heat  this  substance  passed  over  as  a colourless,  hea'vy 
fluid,  quite  unmiscible  with  water. 
Although  unable  to  obtain  an  analysis,  I have  no  doubt  of  this  substance  being 
mercuric  ethyl.  The  boiling-point,  as  before  noticed,  is  above  that  of  water.  It  buims 
with  a lurid  flame,  which  appears  to  be  smoky  from  the  disengagement  of  mercurial 
vapour. 
Its  behaviour  towards  acids  is  just  what  we  might  expect  from  a body  so  little 
removed  in  composition  from  mercuric  methyl.  Hydride  of  ethyl  is  liberated  instead  of 
marsh-gas,  as  in  the  former  case,  and  salts  of  mercurous  ethyl  are  deposited  from  the 
acid  solutions. 
A question  now  arises  as  to  whether  the  above-described  substances  represent,  in  their 
respective  series,  the  sole  radicals  of  the  organo-mercurial  bases. 
Up  to  the  present  time  the  radical  of  mercurous  methyl,  &c.  has  not  been  isolated. 
Should  it  indeed  exist,  its  discovery  would  add  weight  to  Geehaedt’s  views  with  reference 
to  the  different  conditions  of  mercury,  as  mercuricum  and  mercurosum. 
I propose  to  submit  to  similar  treatment  the  salts  of  stanethylium  and  zincethyl.  I 
have  already  made  some  preliminary  experiments  on  the  former,  and  the  results  seem  to 
give  promise  of  subjects  of  interest. 
December  2,  1857. 
