94 
DR. A. W. HOFMANN’S RESEARCHES REGARDING THE 
chemists, the ammonia would pre-exist in the organic bases ; these bodies would be 
conjugated compounds of ammonia with various adjuncts, containing either carbon 
and hydrogen, or these elements together with nitrogen, oxygen and even sulphur, 
compounds in which the original character of the ammonia has only been slightly 
modified by the accession of the adjunct. This view is chiefly supported by the mode 
and the proportions in which these alkaloids combine with acids, and by the fact, that 
various organic substances, by directly uniting with ammonia, give rise to the forma- 
tion of basic compounds which are perfectly analogous to the alkaloids occurring in 
the economy of nature. According to Liebig’s opinion, ammonia would no longer 
exist in the organic bases. At the time when Liebig* wrote upon this subject, the 
attention of chemists was much engaged with the study of a class of compounds, 
known under the name of amides, the prototype of which, oxamide, was discovered 
by Dumas. These substances, all strictly neutral, originate from ammonia by the 
loss of one equivalent of hydrogen, which is abstracted by the oxygen or chlorine of 
certain electro-negative bodies (as in the formation of oxamide and benzamide), a 
hypothetical substance, amidogen, HgN, remaining in combination with the oxide or 
chloride, deprived of 1 equiv. of oxygen or chlorine. Liebig thought that the forma- 
tion of the organic bases might take place in a similar manner, namely, by a reduc- 
tion of ammonia to the state of amidogen, by the action of electro-positive organic 
oxides. 
Each of these theories being expressed in a simple formula, the organic bases, ac- 
cording to Berzelius, would be represented by the terms 
H3N+X, 
while Liebig’s view would characterize them as 
H^N-fY, 
X denoting generally an organic compound containing carbon, hydrogen, and pos 
sibly nitrogen, oxygen and sulphur, while Y expresses an organic oxide, chloride, &c,, 
minus 1 equiv. of oxygen, chlorine, &c. 
Objections have been raised against either theory, and the opinions of chemists 
have remained divided. Liebig has not returned any more to the subject, but Ber- 
zelius took frequent occasion, both in his ‘Annual Report ’ and in the several editions 
of his ‘Traite,’ to defend his notion by the skilful interpretation of every new fact 
which was elaborated by the progress of the science. The weight of his authority 
has not been without influence, for it cannot be denied that Berzelius’s view has 
become more and more generally accepted, especially since a series of comparative 
researches, conducted of late upon the derivatives of the salts of ammonia and of 
organic bases, appeared to give fresh support to this theory. These experiments 
pointed out that the elimination of hydrogen from organic bases and ammonia is by 
no means confined to one equivalent; oxalate of ammonia, which by the loss of 2 equivs. 
of water is converted into oxamide, when deprived of the whole of its hydrogen in 
* Loc. cit. p. 235. 
