OEGANIC COMPOUNDS CONTAINING BOEON. 
183 
boric raethide and potash unite with remarkable energy, yet they are separated by acids 
with the greatest readiness ; even carbonic acid in the presence of water can expel 
boric methide from its potash compound ; thus, if an aqueous solution of potash-boric 
methide be passed into carbonic acid standing over mercury, the acid gas soon becomes 
replaced by pure boric methide. 
Soda-boric methide, baryta-boric methide, and lime-boric methide are similar bodies, 
produced by the absorption of boric methide gas by caustic solutions of soda, baryta, 
and lime ; they are all readily soluble in water and react alkaline. 
Boric methide in combination with the alkalies and alkaline earths has almost 
entirely lost its powerful affinity for oxygen ; nevertheless, when these bodies are 
placed in contact with a known quantity of oxygen over mercury for several days, the 
volume of the gas perceptibly diminishes. 
The great difficulty, not to say danger, attending the gradual oxidation of considerable 
quantities of a gaseous and spontaneously inflammable body like boric methide, has pre- 
vented me from following this compound into its products of oxidation, as was done in 
the case of boric ethide. With a graduated supply of oxygen, however, boric methide 
appears to comport itself like boric ethide, and the compounds formed are probably 
homologous with diethylate and dihydrate of boric dioxyethide. 
In conclusion, it can scarcely be doubted that the action upon horacic ether of the 
zinc compounds of the remaining alcohol radicals would produce the homologues of the 
bodies described in the foregoing pages. It may also be remarked, that the existence 
of bodies like boric dioxyethide, in which one-third of the oxygen in boracic anhydride 
is replaced by ethyl, altogether abolishes any supposed analogy between carbonic and 
boracic acids, whilst it proves that the composition of the latter acid is expressed by the 
formula BO,, or some multiple of that formula. I am at present engaged in studying 
the action of zincethyl and sodiumethyl upon the ethers of silicic, carbonic, oxalic, and 
acetic acids. 
