sr* 



F.THLR FROM OXIMURIATIC ACID ALONE. 



Farther expe 

 rimems pro- 

 mised. 



acquired the ethereal smell. I have mentioned, I saturated 

 it witk magnesia ; and distilled the whole in a glass retort 

 with a very gentle heat, till I had obtained a few ounces of 

 a fluid, which I rectified afresh in a small retort over a lamp. 

 This afforded me a perfectly limpid, colourless liquor, of a 

 very penetrating ethereal smell, and a taste resembling that 

 of muriatic ether diluted with water. It did not change 

 the colour of infusion of mallow flowers; and it did not 

 take fire at the flame of a candle, being still very dilute." 



The small quantity of liquor obtained by this process not 

 allowing me to proceed to a fresh rectification, to deprive it 

 entirely of the superabundant water it contained, 1 mean to 

 make new trials with a larger quantity of sicid. 



From the observations I have thus briefly given, and 

 which no doubt deserve to be repeated &nd confirmed by 

 farther experiments, I am far from pretending to explain by 

 vague hypotheses the formation of acohol, or of ether, by 

 oximuriatic acid, and to point out whence it derives its com- 

 Perhaps ethrr ponent parts. We may suppose, however, that a portion of 

 formed in the h . f ovme ^ at tne t ; me f distilling the oximuriatic 

 acid, and that the potent and suffocating smell of this acid 

 prevents that of the ether from being perceived. In fact 

 the celebrated Giobert of Turin, in distilling oximuriatic 

 acid sixteen years ago, observed a volatile oil similar to that 

 which Mr. Westrumb had discovered some time before 

 him. Mr. Giobert tells us, that this oil is of a yellowish 

 as oleum vini brown colour, very clear, and analogous to the oleum vini ; 

 but that it is difficult tp determine its precise quantity, 

 since when once separated it dissolves anew very readily in 

 the aqueous vapours, that fall into the receiver. This 

 chemist imagined he might estimate the quantity of oil ob- 

 tained from a mixture of a pound of sulphuric acid with- 

 eighteen ounces of muriate of soda at 30 or 35 grains. 



found to be. 



VIL 



