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Xin. Exfract of a Memoir upon the Products which result 

 from the Action of the Metatllc Muriates, the Ory-mn- 

 riatic Jgid, and the. Acetic Acid, upon AlcohoL By 

 M. Thknakd*. 



^Vl. TiiKNAiiD demonstrates in this memoir, that the me- 

 tallic muriates form with alcohol only a very small quantity 

 of ether J that this ether, which is at first dissolved in 

 a great quantity of alcohol, may be separated from it by a 

 gentle heat in the form of gas, jiarticularly by means of 

 warm water, which seizes upon the alcoholic part, and puts 

 the ethcratcd part at liberty to a certain point ; that this 

 ethereatcd gas has a very great analogy to that obtained with 

 the muriatic acid and alcohol ; that in both cases it has the 

 same smell and taste, the same solubility in water, the same 

 maimer of burning with a green tlame diffusing vapours of 

 the muriatic acid, although before the combustion no re- 

 agent indicated the presence of the gases ; in short, that they 

 only differ from each other bv the etherated muriatic gas 

 not liquefying, except at a heat of 12*5 of the centigrade 

 thermometer, while the other becomes liquid at + )G*5. 

 This difference being very slight, M. Thenard thinks we can 

 no longer hesitate to acknowledge the nature and mode of 

 formation to be the same in both : thus in the metallic muri* 

 ntes, it is only the excess of acid which aces upon the alcohol, 

 Sec. that for this reason alcohol cannot be converted into ether 

 except by a great quantity of metallic muriate, and that this 

 cor. version is the easier, the greater excess of acid the mu- 

 riate contains, and the more it is soluble in alcohol : the 

 muriate of tin therefore will succeed better in this operation 

 than anv other. In all cases the oxide of the muriate is not 

 de-oxid.ited, and a portion only of this oxide is precipitated. 

 IVoceedine to consider the Action of the oxy-muriatic acid 

 upon alcohol, he shows that in the re-action of these two 

 bodies upon each other, v/hich is very brisk, almost all the 

 oxy-muriatic acid is decon^posed, and that much water is 

 produced, plenty of nmriatic acid, undecomposed akoho). 



* From ylnn. de Ckimic, tom. ixi. p. 308* 



a great 



