MOLECULAR CONSTITUTION OF THE VOLATILE ORGANIC BASES. 
97 
The bases belonging to the first class are pretty numerously represented. Aniline, 
methylamine, ethylamine, amylamine, when considered as amidogen-compounds, be- 
long to this group. 
H 1 
H ] 
H 1 
H 1 
H |n= A niline 
H N=Methylamine 
H |.N = Ethylamine 
H [N= Amylamine. 
c„hJ 
C.H3J 
C4H3J 
C.oH.j 
Bases of the second and third of the above classes had not been hitherto obtained, 
although it is not improbable that many of the alkaloids, whose constitution is at pre- 
sent perfectly unknown, may be found on a closer investigation to be members of 
these latter groups. 
The researches which I have the honour of presenting to the Royal Society will 
exhibit a series of artificial bases, which are evidently produced, by the substitution of 
carbohydrides, for the second and third equivalents of hydrogen in the ammonia. 
Before proceeding however to the details of my experiments, I shall state, that 1 
am far from supposing that the above formulae include the constitution of all the 
complex bases with which we are acquainted. It is chiefly the volatile alkaloids whose 
constitution may be represented by this view, but even here exceptions may occur. 
Both the ammonia- and the amidogen-theory of the organic bases appear to me to 
have the same defect, in that they endeavour to compress into a single proposition 
our notions respecting the endless variety of compounds which are united under the 
collective term organic bases. If we reflect upon the manifold sources from which the 
various groups of alkaloids are derived and the differences which we observe in their 
physical properties, and even in their chemical deportment, it is but natural to assume 
that in their constitution a diversity may exist similar to that of the organic acids, 
which we cannot attempt to include under one common theory of construction. On 
comparing the alkaloids of the Cinchona bark with urea and creatinine, or with nico- 
tine and aniline, few chemists indeed will be inclined to believe that the constituents 
in these various substances are arranged in the same manner. The constitution of 
the non-volatile organic bases will probably present a very considerable diversity ; 
and it is not at all unlikely that this class will exhibit even instances of conjugated 
ammonias in Berzelius’s acceptation of the term. 
In commencing my experimental inquiry, the first step was to select the particular 
base which should be the subject of operation, and the radicals whose introduction 
should be attempted. On the one hand, my previous experimental occupations sug- 
gested aniline for the foundation ; while, on the other, the radicals existing in aniline 
and its congeners, methylamine, ethylamine and amylamine, namely, phenyl, methyl, 
ethyl and amyl, presented themselves as materials for construction. 
Action of Phenyl-alcohol on Aniline. 
My endeavours to introduce into aniline a second equivalent of phenyl, in order to 
convert 
mdcccl. 
o 
