MOLECULAR CONSTITUTION OF THE VOLATILE ORGANIC BASES. 
123 
The action then of bromide of ethyl upon ammonia gives rise to the formation of 
the following series of compounds : — 
Ammonia 
H3 N= 
^ H 
H 
H 
Ethylamine 
(Ethylammonia) 
Diethylamine 
(Diethylammonia) 
C4 H7 N = 
C3 
H 
H i^N. 
C4H5, 
H 
C4H5 
■ C4 H5J 
Triethylamine 
(Triethylammonia) 
Ci2H43N= 
C4H5 
C4 H5 ^N. 
IC4H5. 
It cannot be doubted for a moment that the same compounds will be obtained in 
the methyl- and amyl-series, the first terms in each of these series having been actu- 
ally prepared by M. Wurtz. Nor is it improbable that arsenietted and phosphoretted 
hydrogen, which, as is well known, imitate to a certain extent the habits of ammonia, 
when subjected to the action of the chlorides, bromides or iodides of the alcohol- 
radicals, will yield a series of arsenietted or phosphoretted bases, corresponding to 
the three classes observed with nitrogen. The highly remarkable bodies discovered 
by M. Paul Thenard appear to warrant this expectation as far as the phosphorus- 
series is concerned, his compound 
Cg HgP 
corresponding evidently in the phosphoretted methyl-series to triethylamine. I mean 
to extend these researches to the action of the bromides of the alcohol-radicals on 
phosphoretted and arsenietted hydrogen. 
In the preceding pages, I have only endeavoured to establish the composition and 
the principal physical characters of the new compounds which form the subject of 
this investigation. To complete their history, it will be necessary to submit to a care- 
ful examination their deportment under the influence of the ordinary decomposing 
agents, and also their behaviour with other organic substances. The study of the 
imidogen- and nitrile-bases, to use this convenient though only provisional designa- 
tion, will require particular attention, the character of the amidogen-bases being 
already pretty well established by the numerous researches respecting aniline, which 
have been performed within the last few years. We cannot but expect, that, although 
the general character of all these substances is very nearly the same, their special pro- 
perties must present considerable diversity, which may be clearly defined by, and 
even anticipated from, the theoretical conception of their constitution, as deduced 
from the present investigation. Though fully aware of the dangers threatening the 
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