462 MR. G. B. BUCKTON AND DR. A. W. HOFMANN’S RESEARCHES ON THE 
C, H, N+2HO+2H, S, 0 .=C. H. S, 0 .,+ |s, O. 
Acetonitrile, Sulphacetic acid. 
C4 H3 N + 3H2 S2 08 = C2 H4 S4 O12+ |S2 O8 + 2CO2. 
^ NT — ’ '' V- ' NH4J 
Acetonitrile. Disulphometholic 
acid. 
Acetamide containing but two equivalents of water- moi-e than acetoniti-ile, the pr o- 
duction of sulphacetic acid and disulphometholic acid fr-om this substance is intel- 
ligible by means of the same equations. 
The action then of bases and of acids upon acetic acid pr-esents a r-emarkable 
analogy. Under the influence of both agents, we may assume, it splits into mar-sh- 
gas and carbonic acid ; in the fir-st case, it is the carbonic acid which is fixed by the 
alkali, whilst in the latter the marsh-gas retnains in combination with the acid. 
The possibility of assuming the existence of marsh-gas in disulphometholic acid, 
suggested the idea of endeavouring to combine rnar-sh-gas directly with sulphuric acid. 
The dry gas obtained by the distillation of acetate of soda with potash-lime was 
passed into a receiver charged for this purpose with anhydr-ous sulphuric acid, but we 
could not detect any combination of the two bodies, either at ordinar-y temperature 
or when the receiver was heated to 100° C. The sulphuric acid, after treatment with 
water and carbonate of barium, furnished no soluble salt whatever. 
Although we have thus been unable to convert marsh-gas into disulphometholic 
acid, we have found that this acid may be readily transformed into marsh-gas. 
When heated with hydrate of baryta the salts of the acid yield marsh-gas, together 
with sulphate and sulphite of barium. A method is thus indicated by which pro- 
bably all the hydrocarbons, Cn2-2 H„2, may be prepared from the corresponding 
SLilpho-acids *. 
The simplicity of relation which exists between sulphacetic and disulphometholic 
acid, left no doubt in our mind regarding the convertibility of the former into the 
latter. We have established this fact moreover experimentally. Sulphacetic acid, 
prepared by the action of anhydrous sulphuric acid upon glacial acetic acid, furnished 
without difficulty disulphometholic acid, when again treated with sulphuric acid. A 
similar observation had in fact been made already by M. Melsens. This chemist, in 
his researches upon the sulphacetates, appears in some sort to have anticipated the 
existence of the disulphometholates. He remarks that he once found in the mother- 
liquor obtained from the preparation of sulphacetate of silver, a crystalline salt the 
composition of which he represents by the formula 
C,H.Ag,S, 0 „. 
* We are unable to corroborate M. Aimee’s remarks, that marsh-gas is decomposed by sulphuric acid into 
water, carbon, and sulphurous acid. The acid remains colourless, and the gas after the process exhibits its usual 
properties unmodified. 
