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 the reaction. They are very unstable, and do not react in the normal manner. (V. Grignard and L. Tissier, Comptes rendus, 1901, 132, p. 558).

The products formed by the action of the Grignard reagent with the various types of organic compounds are usually thrown out of solution in the form of crystalline precipitates or as thick oils, and are then decomposed by ice-cold dilute sulphuric or acetic acids, the magnesium being removed as a basic halide salt.

Applications.—For the formation of primary and secondary alcohols see and. Formaldehyde behaves abnormally with magnesium benzyl bromide (M. Tiffeneau, Comptes rendus, 1903, 137, p. 573). forming ortho-tolylcarbinol, CH3·C6H4·CH2OH, and not benzylcarbinol, C6H5CH2·CH2OH (cf. the reaction of formaldehyde on phenols: O. Manasse, Ber. 1894, 27, p. 2904). Acid esters yield carbinols, many of which are unstable and readily pass over into unsaturated compounds, especially when warmed with acetic anhydride: R·CO2R′(R″)2·R&#8942;C·OMgX &rarr; (R″)2R&#8942;C·OH.

Formic ester yields a secondary alcohol under similar conditions. Acid chlorides behave in an analogous manner to esters (Grignard and Tissier, Comptes rendus, 1901, 132, p. 683). Nitriles yield ketones (the nitrogen being eliminated as ammonia), the best yields being given by the aromatic nitriles (E. Blaise, ibid., 1901, 133, p. 1217): R·CN &rarr; RR′:C:NMgI &rarr; R·CO·R′. Acid amides also react to form ketones (C. Béis, ibid., 1903, 137, 575):

R·CONH2 &rarr; RR′:C(OMgX)·NHMgX + R′H &rarr; R·CO·R′;

the yield increases with the complexity of the organic residue of the acid amide. On passing a current of dry carbon dioxide over the reagent, the gas is absorbed and the resulting compound, when decomposed by dilute acids, yields an organic acid, and similarly with carbon oxysulphide a thio-acid is obtained:

RMgX &rarr; R·CO2MgX &rarr; R·CO2H; COS &rarr; CS(OMgX)·R &rarr; R·CSOH.

A. Klages (Ber., 1902, 35, pp. 2633 et seq.) has shown that if one uses an excess of magnesium and of an alkyl halide with a ketone, an ethylene derivative is formed. The reaction appears to be perfectly general unless the ketone contains two ortho-substituent groups. Organo-metallic compounds can also be prepared, for example

SnBr4 + 4MgBrC6H5 = 4MgBr2 + Sn(C6H5)4.

For a summary see A. McKenzie, B. A. Rep. 1907.

Detection.—The magnesium salts may be detected by the white precipitate formed by adding sodium phosphate (in the presence of ammonia and ammonium chloride) to their solutions. The same reaction is made use of in the quantitative determination of magnesium, the white precipitate of magnesium ammonium phosphate being converted by ignition into magnesium pyrophosphate and weighed as such. The atomic weight of magnesium has been determined by many observers. J. Berzelius (Ann. chim. phys., 1820, 14, p. 375), by converting the oxide into the sulphate, obtained the value 12.62 for the equivalent. R. F. Marchand and T. Scheerer (Jour. prakt. Chem., 1850, 50, p. 358), by ignition of the carbonate, obtained the value 24.00 for the atomic weight, whilst C. Marignac, by converting the oxide into the sulphate, obtained the value 24.37. T. W. Richards and H. G. Parker (Zeit. anorg. Chem., 1897, 13, p. 81) have obtained the value 24.365 (O = 16).

Medicine.—These salts of magnesium may be regarded as the typical saline purgatives. Their aperient action is dependent upon the minimum of irritation of the bowel, and is exercised by their abstraction from the blood of water, which passes into the bowel to act as a diluent of the salt. The stronger the solution administered, the greater is the quantity of water that passes into the bowel, a fact to be borne in mind when the salt is administered for the purpose of draining superfluous fluid from the system, as in dropsy. The oxide and carbonate of magnesium are also invaluable as antidotes, since they form insoluble compounds with oxalic acid and salts of mercury, arsenic, and copper. The result is to prevent the local corrosive action of the poison and to prevent absorption of the metals. As alkaloids are insoluble in alkaline solutions, the oxide and carbonate—especially the former—may be given in alkaloidal poisoning. The compounds of magnesium are not absorbed into the blood in any appreciable quantity, and therefore exert no remote actions upon other functions. This is fortunate, as the result of injecting a solution of a magnesium salt into a vein is rapid poisoning. Hence it is of the utmost importance to avoid the use of salts of this metal whenever it is necessary—as in diabetic coma—to increase the alkalinity of the blood rapidly. The usual doses of the oxide and carbonate of magnesium are from half a drachm to a drachm.

MAGNETISM. The present article is a digest, mainly from an experimental standpoint, of the leading facts and principles of magnetic science. It is divided into the following sections:

Of these thirteen sections, the first contains a simple description of the more prominent phenomena, without mathematical symbols or numerical data. The second includes definitions of technical terms in common use, together with so much of the elementary theory as is necessary for understanding the experimental work described in subsequent portions of the article; a number of formulae and results are given for purposes of reference, but the mathematical reasoning by which they are obtained is not generally detailed, authorities being cited whenever the demonstrations are not likely to be found in ordinary textbooks. The subjects discussed in the remaining sections are sufficiently indicated by their respective headings. (See also, , and .)

1.

Pieces of a certain highly esteemed iron ore, which consists mainly of the oxide Fe3O4, are sometimes found to possess the power of attracting small fragments of iron or steel. Ore endowed with this curious property was well known to the ancient Greeks and Romans, who, because it occurred plentifully in the district of Magnesia near the Aegean coast, gave it the name of magnes, or the Magnesian stone. In English-speaking countries the ore is commonly known as magnetite, and pieces which exhibit attraction as magnets; the cause to which the attractive property is attributed is called magnetism, a name also applied to the important branch of science which has been evolved from the study of phenomena associated with the magnet.

If a magnet is dipped into a mass of iron filings and withdrawn, filings cling to certain parts of the stone in moss-like tufts, other parts remaining bare. There are generally two regions where the tufts are thickest, and the attraction therefore greatest, and between them is a zone in which no attraction is evidenced. The regions of greatest attraction have received the name of poles, and the line joining them is called the axis of the magnet; the space around a magnet in which magnetic effects are exhibited is called the field of magnetic force, or the magnetic field.

Up to the end of the 15th century only two magnetic phenomena of importance, besides that of attraction, had been observed. Upon one of these is based the principle of the mariner’s compass, which is said to have been known to the Chinese as early as 1100, though it was not introduced into Europe until more than 2000 years later; a magnet supported so that its axis is free to turn in a horizontal plane will come to rest with its poles pointing approximately north and south. The other phenomenon is mentioned by Greek and Roman writers of the 1st century: a piece of iron, when brought into contact with a magnet, or even held near one, itself becomes “inductively” magnetized, and acquires the power of lifting iron. If the iron is soft and fairly pure, it loses its attractive property when removed from the neighbourhood of the magnet; if it is hard, some of the induced magnetism is permanently retained, and the piece becomes an artificial magnet. Steel is much more retentive of magnetism than any ordinary iron, and some form of steel is now always used for making artificial magnets. Magnetism may be imparted to a bar of hardened steel by stroking it several times from end to