Report ilpoH a Memoir on the Nitrons Ether, 1 79 



as the nitric ether, is found to be composed of water, ni- 

 trous acid, acetic acid, ether, and probably alcohol. 



The gaseous product has in particular required much pa- 

 tience and dexterity^ in order to separate it into different ele^ 

 ments ; to assign to each of these elements the properties 

 which belong to it ; and to explain the differences which 

 result from the circumstances in which this gas is placed. 

 It was composed of the nitrous gas, azote, oxide of azote, 

 nitrous acid, carbonic acid, and of etherized gas, which it 

 was particularly necessary to detach from the rest, in order 

 to examine its properties. The author was led by these pre- 

 liminary experiments to the following^ process, in order to 

 separate the pure ether^ and to examine it, whether in its 

 liquid or gaseous state. 



He put into a retort five hectogrammes of alcohol> and 

 as much nitric acid. To the retort were successively adapted^ 

 by means of glass tubes, five long flasks half-filled with wa- 

 ter saturated with muriate of soda. The last had a tube> 

 which opened under a bell-glass, filled and destined to 

 collect the gaseous part. All the flasks were surrounded 

 with a mixture of pounded glass and sea-salt, which was 

 stirred from time to time. The operation began by means 

 of a little fire; but it soon became necessary to extinguish it, 

 and even to cool the retort. 



The liquid remaining in the retort was analogous to that 

 in the first-mentioned experiment. 



There was found upon the surface in all the flasks a yel- 

 lowish liquid, and which, when collected, weighed 255 

 grammes. That contained in the first flask was a mixture 

 of alcohol, ether, acetic acid, and nitrous acid ; that con- 

 tained in the other flasks was nitric ether, free from alcohol. 

 In this state the nitric ether possesses a strong smell ; it is 

 specifically lighter than water, and heavier than alcohol ; it 

 is dissolved in the latter in any proportion, but it requires 

 nearly <18 parts of water to dissolve it, and yet the latter dis- 

 solves it partly as we subsequently find. It presents in a 

 strong degree the^roperties of combustible bodies. Never- 

 theless, this ether strongly reddens turnsole tincture; and it 

 owes this property to a little nitrous acid and acetic acid, 



Ms which 



