I. On a new class of bodies homologous to hydrocyanic acid. -I
The typical transformation which hydrocyanic acid undergoes when submitted, under appropriate circumstances, to the action of water, is capable of assuming two different forms when accomplished in its homologues. If the hydrocyanic molecule be found to fix the elements of two molecules of water, yielding ultimately formic acid and ammonia, it is obvious that the atom group which in the homologues of hydrocyanic acid we assume in the place of hydrogen may be eliminated when these homologues are decomposed by water in conjunction either with formic acid or with ammonia. To take an example: —When acting with water upon the simplest homologue of hydrocyanic acid (upon cyanide of methyl), we may expect to see the methyl-group separating either in the form of methyl-formic, i. e . acetic acid, or in the form of methyl-ammonia, i. e . of methylamine, The difference of the two reactions and their relation to the metamorphosis of hydrocyanic acid itself are exhibited by the following equations: