aM 



ACTION or MURIATtS, &C. ON ALCOHOL, 



Kot so volatil* 

 as that frop 

 the acid. 



Formed 

 wholly from 

 tlie excess of 

 acid inthemu 

 riate. 



Oxigenized 

 muriatic acid 

 decomposed 

 by alcohol. 



But no ehter 

 produced. 



Mistake of 

 45cheele in this 

 respect. 



gas by a n;entle heat ; particularly by mean'* of hot water, 

 which seizes on the alcohol, and to a Certain poit.t sets the 

 ether at liberty: that this ethereous gas has the greHtost Hiia- 

 lojry with that which is obtained from muriatic acid nnd 

 alcohol: that both have the same smell, taste, and solubility 

 in water, and burn in the same' manner with a grem flame, 

 and diffusinfi; vapours of muriatic acid, though nrevious to 

 the combustion no test can delect the presence of any in the 

 gas: and that thry differ only in this,, that the muriatic ether- 

 eous gas is not condensible at a temperature above I'i*^'' 

 [or?" F], while the other is at l6-5« [6o" F.] 



This difference being but slight, Mr. Thenard conceives, 

 that the nature an»l mode of formation of both are the same; 

 and that in the metallic muriates it is only the excess of acid 

 that acts on the alcohol. For this reason a large quantity of 

 metallic muriate is necessary to convert alcohol into ether; 

 and it is the more easily effected, in proportion as the muriate 

 contains a greater excess of acid, and is more soluble in alco- 

 hol. Hence the process succeeds better with the muriate of 

 tin than with any other. In every case the muriate is not 

 disoxigenized, and a portion of the oxide only is found to be 

 precipitated. 



Considering afterward the action of oxigenized muriatic 

 acid on alcohol, he shows, that in the mutual action of these 

 two substances on each other, which is very powerful, almost 

 all the oxigenized muriatic acid is decomposed: and the re- 

 sult is a great deal of water; a great deal of muriatic acid ; 

 some alcohol not decomposed ; a tolerable quantity of an oily 

 matter heavier than water, having a cool taste analogous to 

 that of mint, a peculiar smell differing from that of ether ; 

 and beside these a small quantity of carbonic acid, of a sub- 

 stance easily carbonized, and probably of acetous acid, but no 

 ether. Farther, that the oxigenized muriatic ether of Scheele 

 is nothing but muriatic ether properly so called, when 

 made with a mixture of alcohol, muriatic acid, and black 

 oxide of manganese; or a mixture of muriatic and sulphuric 

 ether, when made from black oxide of manganese, common 

 •salt, alcohol, and sulphuric acid: that Pelietier's is of the 

 same nature,. since he made it of a similar mixture: and that 



what 



