metallic ace- 

 tates 



226 0N ACETJC ACID AND ACETATES, 



been finally erased from the list of chemical substances, 

 in which, for more reasons than one, they ought never to 

 have been inserted. 

 Distillation of Though several chemists have already turned their at- 

 tention to some of the subjects of the present inquiry, I 

 believe I have some new facts to add on the distillation of 

 metallic acetates; and without any intention to diminish 

 the claims, which Messrs. Cnurtenvaux, Lauraguais, Mon- 

 net, Lassonne, Edenzel, Berti.ollet, Chaptal, Proust, Hig-* 

 gins, Pelletier, Adet, Darracq, Dabit, TrommsdorfT, De-» 

 rosue, &c. have to our acknowledgments?, 1 shall proceed 

 to relate the whole of my researches, begun in March 1803, 

 but which I was unable to finish before the present mo- 

 ment (January the 11th, 1808.) 

 Engliih vine- In a glass retort 1 carefully distilled two quarts of vine- 

 € ar a * 1 e • g ar> mac j e i n England from malt. Its specific gravity had 

 become 1*0042. 1 saturated it with carbonate of potash, 

 and distiiied it again to dryness. What remained in the 

 retort v\ as acetate of potash coloured by vegetable matter. 

 The liquid that came over was perfectly clear and colour- 

 less, and retained a slightly spirituous smell, which I had 

 Spiritfrqmit* observed in the vinegar before distillation. To separate 

 this spirit from the water with which it was mixed, I threw 

 into the liquid a large quantity of dry carbonate of potash. 

 The water being saturated with this, the surface of the 

 solution was cqvered with a very thin pellicle of this spirit; 

 too little indeed for me to estimate its quantity, but enough 

 to leave no doubt of its existence. 

 Mncibge, or The liquid, which was clear and colourless, as I observed, 

 extract, after distillation, and before I had thrown any carbonate 



of potash into it, was rendered turbid by the solution of 

 this salt, and became of a violet brown. Some flocks re- 

 mained suspended in the water. It is this matter which 

 Mr. Darracq calls mucilage, but which, according to Mr, 

 Steinacher, is extractive matter, 

 passed over I* ^ s to be observed, that this, substance, whether mucilage 



twice iu distil- or ex tract, had passed over in, distillation twice: first when 

 I distilled the original vinegar, and next when I redistilled 

 \t after the combination of its acid with potash. I found 



it 



