101 On the Muriatic El her, 



grade thermometer) it weighs 874, water weighing 1000. 

 Thus, aUhough it is far more volatile than the jtulphuric 

 ether, and, a fortiori, than alcohol, not only is it thicker than 

 the fornier, but even than the latter oF these two bodies. 

 Lastly, it does not congeal at a temperature of — 29^ (cen- 

 tigrade thermometer). 



Hitherto we have seen nothing in this ether which does 

 not perfectly agree with that presented by other matters ; it 

 is nothing else than a substance curious from its nor 

 velty, and particularly from the facility with which it is 

 gasitied and liquefied. When wc reflect upon it a little 

 more, it appears one of the most singular and extraordinary 

 compounds we can produce. It does not in the least red- 

 den turnsole tincture ; the strongest alkalis have no action 

 upon it ; the solution of silver does not meddle with it at 

 all ; and all this, whether we employ it in the gaseous or 

 liquid state, or dissolved in water : if we set fire to it, there 

 is suddenly developed such a quantity of muriatic acid, that 

 this acid precipitates in a mass the concentrated nitrate of 

 silver, suffocates those who respire it, and even appears in 

 the form of vapours in the surrounding air. 



Is the muriatic acid formed in this inflammation, as. we 

 are induced to think, or is it only set at liberty? This is 

 the question which the author of the memoir afterwards en- 

 deavours to resolve. 



If the muriatic acid be formed in the combustion of the 

 etherized gas, the radical of this acid must exist in the gas; 

 3nd this radical necessarily comes froqi the alcohol, or from 

 the muriatic acid decomposed by the alcohol, or, what is not 

 very probable,' although not impossible, from both. In the 

 iirst case, by distilling a mixture of alcohol and muriatic 

 acid, we ought to find after the distillation all the muriatic 

 acid employed, besides that which appeared in the com- 

 })UStion of the gas formed ; in the second case, on the cout 

 trary, a greal quantity of acid ought to disappear in this di-* 

 ^tillatiim ; but by keeping an account of that which is de- 

 veloped in the combustion of the gas formed, this quantity 

 of acid precisely, ^nd no more, ought to reappear entirely. 

 Ju the t:hird ca^q^, ffom this distillation a loss of acid shou'd 



*ilSQ 



