34 i ON ACETIC ACID AND ACETATES. 



containing acetic acid, without any other substance, 



should be ascertained*. 



Crystallization What I have just said of the congelation of the liquid 



notowingtt) P roduct of thc distillation of acetate of silver proves, that 



spirit. the crystallization of acetic acid is no way owing to the 



presence of the spirituous liquor. In fact how can we 



imagine, that a fluid congealable only at a very great degree 



of cold can increase thc crystallizableness of another fluid, 



which crystallizes much mare readily than itself? No cause 



for the crystallization of tartaric, oxalic, or any other acid 



has ever been sought for, but its peculiar nature- 



Purest and The purest and most concentrated acetic acid I ever 



strongest from gaw was tnat | obtained from the acetate of silver by dis- 

 acetate of silver. J 



tillation. 



Acetate of There seems to be some anomaly in the products of the 



nic e '* distillation of acetate of nickel. The quantity of carbon 



\\\ the residuum in the retort is very great, and there is like- 

 wise a great deal carried off by the gas. The difficulty of 

 obtaining a sufficient quantity of this metal prevented mc 

 from carrying my examination farther. 

 Littl« spirit I cannot answer to a few hundredths for the quantity of 



from the ace- gpirituous liquor contained in thc products of the distilla- 



tates of silver, r ■ l 



nickel, and tion of the acetates of silver, nickel, and copper, on ac- 



copper, count of the small quantity they contain, and the larger 



proportion of their acetic acid. The acetate of silver ap- 

 pears to me to contain none. I am not so certain with re- 

 gard to that of nickel. After having deprived the liquid 

 product of the acetate of copper of a large portion of its 

 acid by distilling it with carbonate of potash, I separated 

 about 17 of spiritnous liquor by the method used for the 

 other liquid products. 



andiron. The acetate of iron is one of those most easily decom- 



posed by heat. Accordingly it yields less of the spirituous 

 liquor, and more acid, in the product of its distillation, 

 than we have reason to expect from its other properties. 



More in pro- Without arrogating to these results more confidence, than 



portion as the ^ e nature of the research allows them to claim, we sec, that 



rnotal less 



a^ily reducible, from the four metals reduced to the metallic state during 



* See the paper by Mr. Mollerat, Ann. de Chim., vol. lxviii, p. 

 88 i or Journal, vol. xxv, p. 155, 



the 



