DE. A. W. HOFMAJN’N ON THE PHOSPHOEUS-BASES. 
45 ] 
There could, therefore, be no doubt that dibromide of ethylene would, under certain 
conditions, likewise react with ammonia as a monatomic compound, giving rise to another 
series of bodies in which the hydrogen would be more or less replaced by the monatomic 
radical Cg Br, viz. — 
[(C^H^Br) H3N]Br, 
[(C^H^BiO^H^NlBr, 
[(C2H,Br)3H N]Br, 
and [(C2 Br)4 N] Br. 
Further, if the reaction took place in presence of water, it was to be expected that 
the bromine, wholly or partially eliminated as hydrobromic acid, would be replaced by 
the molecular residue of the water ; and thus, independently of any mixed compounds 
containing bromine and oxygen, a series of salts might be looked for, in which a mole- 
cule C2 H4 H 0 = C2 Hg O would enter monatomically, viz. — 
[(C2H5O) H3N]Bi% 
[(CjHjOjjH N]Bi-, 
anclKCjHjO), N] Br. 
Lastly, remembering the tendency exhibited by ethylene-compounds to resolve them- 
selves, in presence of alkalies, into vinyl-compounds, it appeared not improbable that a 
fourth series of bodies would likewise be formed, viz. — 
[(C3H3) H3N]Br, 
[(C3H3)3H3N]Br, 
[(C3H3)3H N]Br, 
and[(C3H3), N]Br; 
and thus was presented the not very inviting problem of separating from a great mass 
of bromide of ammonium, no fewer than sixteen different bases. 
In the experiments on the action of dibromide of ethylene on ammonia and its homo- 
logues, which I hope to lay before the Royal Society in a special paper, I have indeed 
by no means met with the whole of these compounds ; but in place of the deficient 
members of the groups, new products have made their appearance, whose formation in 
the present state of our knowledge could scarcely have been predicted. Without enter- 
ing into details respecting these products, I will merely observe that I was induced, by 
the complication of this reaction, to subject dibromide of ethylene to the action of 
ethylamine, diethylamine, and finally of triethylamine instead of ammonia ; for it could 
not be doubted that with the progressive substitution of ethyl for the hydrogen in 
ammonia, the process would be simplified, the number of possible products of reaction 
being considerably diminished. Ammonia indeed — omitting secondary products — is 
capable of producing not less than sixteen compounds, whereas ethylamine cannot yield 
3 0 2 
