II. Researches on the hydrocarbons of the series C n H 2 n +2

Previously to the year 1848 none of the members of the numerous family of hydrocarbons of the general formula Cn H2n +2, with the single exception of marsh-gas, were known to the chemist; but since that year the researches of Kolbe on the electrolysis of the fatty acids, and those of Frankland on the action of zinc upon the alcohol iodides, have opened up a new field of discovery, from which in rapid succession rich harvests have been reaped. The hydrocarbons thus isolated were considered by their discoverers to be the true radicals of the alcohols; and in consequence the molecular weights which were then given to these bodies amounted only to half those which are now generally accepted.