on the Acetic and Acetous Acids. j $ 



of potafh with the two acids. As it is very difficult to afcer-* 

 tain with certainty the true point of faturation, I (hall not 

 fpeak of the refpe&ive quantities employed; they appeared 

 to me to be nearly equal. When I had evaporated thefe two 

 falts to drynefs, they both prefented themfelves under the 

 form of laminae, of a favour equally pungent and hot, and, 

 at laft, urinous and alkaline; in a word, no difference could 

 be obferved between them. 



For the prefent, I mall call the one acetite of pGta/h, and 

 that made with acetic acid acetate. I took 576 parts of each 

 of thefe falts, which had been evaporated and brought as far 

 as pofliblc to the fame degree of deficcation, and put them 

 into two glafs retorts. They were expofed in a furnace to an 

 equal heat, and during the didillation the fame phenomena 

 were obferved. Some drops of a liquor flightly coloured, and 

 pf an acrid favour, paffed over into the two receivers. This 

 liquor increafed in a fenfible manner till the end of the di- 

 flillation ; and after expofure to a ftrong heat there remained 

 in the two retorts a carbonaceous matter, which was treated 

 with boiling water in order to remove by warning all the al- 

 kaline part mixed with the carbon. Being feparatelv filtered, 

 there remained in the filters two light refiduums known to 

 be charcoal. The two filters which contained them were 

 placed in a ftove for 24 hours, and confequently were dried 

 nearly in an equal degree. In this ftate the two portions of 

 charcoal being weighed, that of the acetite weighed 22^ parts, 

 while that of the acetate weighed only 21. It is feen by this 

 refult that the difference is exceedingly fmall, and that there 

 is reafon to believe that the degree of the deficcation of the 

 refiduums, or of the falts employed, may be the caufe of the 

 fmall quantity of charcoal which the acetite furnifhed more 

 than the acetate. 



Exp. II. I faturated cryftallized carbonate of foda with 

 equal quantities of the acetous and acetic acid, and, by re- 

 peated evaporations, I obtained the two falts crystallized in 

 the fame manner : they exhibited ftriated prifms, among 

 which I remarked foine hexaedral; their favour was equally 

 pungent and bitter, and their colour white and brilliant. 



Thefe two falts, well cryftallized, were dried in an equal 

 degree between filtering paper in a place (lightly heated, 

 where they were left till the paper was no longer moiftened. 

 I then took, as in the former experiment, 576 parts of acetite 

 and acetate of foda, and put them into two retorts : thefe two 

 falts, expofed to a graduated heat, firft became liquid : in pro- 

 portion as I augmented the heat they became black, and 

 there paffed over into the two receivers liquors llightly co- 

 loured, 



