observed phenomena and strictly deduced generalisations, this branch of chemistry has been treated separately for the reason that in it the hydrocarbon groups are subjected to transformations which are not met with in such quantity in dealing with any of the other elements or their hydrogen compounds. It was important for us to show that notwithstanding the great variety of the hydrocarbons and their products, they are all of them governed by the law of substitution, and referring our readers for detailed information to works on organic chemistry, we will limit ourselves to a short exposition of the properties of the two simplest unsaturated hydrocarbons: ethylene, CH 2 CH 2 , and acetylene, CHCH, and a short acquaintance with petroleum as the natural source of a mass of hydrocarbons. Ethylene, or olefiant gas , C 2 H 4 , is the lowest known member of the unsaturated hydrocarbon series of the composition C n H 2 n . As in composition it is equal to two molecules of marsh gas deprived of two molecules of hydrogen, it is evident that it might be, and it actually can be, produced, although but in small quantities, together with hydrogen, by heating marsh gas. On being heated, however, olefiant gas splits up, first into acetylene and methane (3C 2 H 4 = 2C 2 H 2 + 2CH 4 , Lewes, 1894), and at a higher temperature into carbon and hydrogen; and therefore in those cases where marsh gas is produced by heating, olefiant gas, hydrogen, and charcoal will also be formed, although only in small quantities. The lower the temperature at which complex organic substances are heated, the greater the quantity of olefiant gas found in the gases given off; at a white heat it is entirely decomposed into charcoal and marsh gas. If coal, wood, and more particularly petroleum, tars, and fatty substances, are subjected to dry distillation, they give off illuminating gas, which contains more or less olefiant gas.
Olefiant gas, almost free from other gases,51 may be obtained from ordinary alcohol (if possible, free from water) if it be mixed with five parts of strong sulphuric acid and the mixture heated to slightly above 100°. Under these conditions, the sulphuric acid removes the elements of water from the alcohol, C2H5(OH), and gives olefiant gas; C2H6O = H2O + C2H4. The greater molecular weight of olefiant gas compared with marsh gas indicates that it may be comparatively easily converted into a liquid by means of pressure or great cold; this may be effected, for example, by the evaporation of liquid nitrous oxide. Its absolute boiling point is +10°, it boils at -103° (1 atmosphere), liquefies at 0°, at a pressure of 43 atmospheres, and solidifies at -160°. Ethylene is colourless, has a slight ethereal smell, is slightly soluble in water, and somewhat more soluble in alcohol and in ether (in five volumes of spirit and six volumes of ether).52
Like other unsaturated hydrocarbons, olefiant gas readily enters into combination with certain substances, such as chlorine, bromine, iodine, fuming sulphuric acid, or sulphuric anhydride, &c. If olefiant gas be sealed up with a small quantity of sulphuric acid in a glass vessel, and constantly agitated (as, for instance, by attaching it to the moving part of a machine), the prolonged contact and repeated mixing causes the olefiant gas, little by little, to combine with the sulphuric acid, forming C2H4H2SO4. If, after this absorption, the sulphuric acid be diluted with water and distilled, alcohol separates, which is produced in this case by the olefiant gas combining with the elements of water, C2H4 + H2O = C2H6O. In this reaction (Berthelot) we see an excellent example of the fact that if a given substance, like olefiant gas, is produced by the decomposition of another, then in the reverse way this substance, entering into combination, is capable of forming the original substance—in our example, alcohol. In combination with various molecules, X2, ethylene gives saturated compounds, C2H4X2 or CH2XCH2X (for example, C2H4Cl2), which correspond with ethane, CH3CH3 or C2H6.53
Acetylene , C 2 H 2 = CHCH, is a gas; it was first prepared by Berthelot (1857). It has a very pungent smell, is characterised by its great stability under the action of heat, and is obtained as the only product of the direct combination of carbon with hydrogen when a luminous arc (voltaic) is formed between carbon electrodes.