g4 >fODE Ot MAKING PIIOSPHOIlIC ETHER; 



without success, when Eoudet the younger published a pa- 

 per on this subject in the XLth vol. of the Annales de Chi- 

 mie. The phenomena he described announce a real action 

 ' between the acid and alcohol, and display various circum- 



stances, that usually accompany the formation of ether.- 

 However this chemist confessedj that the product he ob- 

 tained possessed little volatility ; that it was (Entirely soluble 

 in water ; and that, thdtigh it liad a peculiar smelly it did 

 not exhibit the characters of real ether* 



r%. -r.r\r. ♦>.« Convinced by various trials^ that the want 6f action of the 

 Owing to the *' ^ 



difficulty of phosphoric acid, when concentrated or even glacial, on alco- 



acid^& alcobol ^^'^^ depended particularly on the difficulty of uniting these 



into intimate two substances, and multiplying and prolonging the contact 



eoiitact. ^^ their mutual particles, I resumed, the attempt; and the 



hope I conceived of obtaining a more satisfactory result ^\as 



realized by the following process. 



Apparatus for '^^ ^ tubulated retort, placed on a sand bathj I fitted a 



thii purpose, receiver, likewise tubulated, which comtnunicated by a 



Welter's tube with a bottle full of limewater. From this 



bottle a second tube proceeded to a pneumatic trough, and 



there opened under an inverted jar. 



Into the retort I introduced 500 gram. []603 grs. troy] of 

 pure phosphoric acid, arising from the combustion of phos« 

 phoros by nitric acid, vitriGed, redissolved, and evaporated 

 to the Consistence of honej* 



On the tubulure of the retort I placed a glass vessel, thaf 

 may be called a reservoir^ of an oblong shape, and open at 

 both extremities, each of which might be shut close by 

 means of a cork. From the lower end a tube descended to 

 the bottom of the retort, being thus immersed in the pho's- 

 phoric acid. The upper end, in which was a funnel, that 

 might be made to communicate with the reservoir, or not, at 

 pleasure, had a small aperture with a grotmd glass stopple 

 intended to give tent to the air, when displaced by pouring 

 in a liquid. See plate II, fig. 3 ; and for its horizontal sec-» 

 tion hg. 4. 



The apparatus being thus disposed and carefully luted, 

 a,nd the tirst receiver being cooled by a mixture of pounded 

 ice and common salt, a tiie was kindled under the retort, 

 and the heat gradually increased, so as to heat the acid to 



