MOLECULAR CONSTITUTION OF THE ORGANIC BASES. 
365 
However, no phenomenon, other than the decomposition of water, was observed. This 
decomposition certainly appeared to be facilitated, especially if the base was employed 
in the form of sulphate. Nor had potassium-amalgam the slightest effect upon oxide 
of tetrethylammonium. 
1 must still mention a peculiar reaction, somewhat singular at the first glance, 
which takes place on adding the concentrated oxide to alkaline solutions of iodide of 
potassium, when the crystalline iodide of tetrethylammonium is at once precipitated. 
I need scarcely remark that this phenomenon is due to the insolubility of the iodide 
in alkaline solutions, and not to the new base possessing a greater affinity for iodine 
than potassium, whose oxide is thus actually liberated. 
A moderately concentrated solution of oxide of tetrethylammonium may be boiled 
without alteration ; it is only in a very advanced stage of evaporation that decompo- 
sition gradually sets in. The change occurs even in the water-bath, as soon as the 
base becomes nearly dry. On evaporating, however, under the bell of the air-pump 
in the presence of sulphuric acid and lime, the base may be obtained in the dry 
state. I have endeavoured to obtain it in this manner in a condition fit for analysis, 
but all my attempts have been hitherto in vain ; a concentrated solution of the oxide, 
when placed in a vacuum, deposits, after some days’ exposure, long hair-like needles, 
v^^hich are, however, deliquescent in the extreme, and attract carbonic acid with 
great avidity. In both respects they are scarcely inferior to potassa. By remaining 
longer in vacuo, these crystals disappear again, and the whole liquid dries up to a 
semisolid mass, which also deliquesces rapidly, and becomes carbonated on exposure 
to the air. As there was not the slightest chance of getting this substance into 
a combustion-tube, I endeavoured to ascertain its composition, by decomposing a 
known quantity of the iodide with protoxide of silver, evaporating in vacuo in a 
glass dish, which on removing from the air-pump, could be covered with a glass 
plate, and determining the weight of the solid mass remaining. These experiments, 
however, have not led to any decisive results. Soon after the formation of the crystals, 
the liquid becomes coated with a thin pellicle, which retards the evaporation to such 
an extent, that even after a fortnight’s exposure the mass still continues to lose in 
weight ; but by that time, however carefully the air was excluded, the base has partly 
been converted into carbonate. Some similar experiments, made in the amyl-series, 
which I shall describe in another part of this paper, have been attended with more 
success. From these experiments it may be inferred by analogy, that the residue 
remaining on evaporating a solution of oxide of tetrethylammonium is the hydrate 
C4 
C4 Hs. 
corresponding to hydrate of potassa. The hair-like crystals contain evidently in 
3 B 
MDCCCLI. 
