D. CHEMISTRY AND METALLURGY. 185 



the fermentation without evolution of gas. 25 C,'3farch^ 

 ISYS, 183. 



ALCOHOLS FKOM FLINT AND QUARTZ. 



A lecture has recently been given by Professor J. Emerson 

 Reynolds before the Royal Institution of Great Britain upon 

 the above subject. Taking the word " alcohol " in its ordi- 

 nary and popular sense, it might seem that, if this be true, 

 the very rocks under our feet are likely to be turned into ex- 

 hilaratinGr beveraoes. But the word "alcohol" can not be so 

 defined. It is a geneinc term in organic chemistry, certainly 

 quite as much so as the Avord "acid." One of the chief dis- 

 tinguishing features of our modern chemistry is that sub- 

 stances are no lonsfer named because of their common and ob- 

 vious properties a method which in the case of the acids has 

 been, and still is, productive of great evil but on account 

 of the peculiar chemical constitution they possess, in virtue of 

 which they undergo certain chemical transformations with fa- 

 cility. The name " alcohol," for example, is applied to those 

 carbon compounds which readily yield compound ethers by 

 the action of acids, the facility of doing this resulting from 

 the peculiar arrangement of their atoms. But such a defini- 

 tion includes many substances not ordinarily regarded as al- 

 coholic. For instance, glycerine, all the sugars, and even 

 beeswax. Professor Reynolds' interesting discourse, there- 

 fore, has reference to the fact that as silicon (of which flints 

 and quartz are the oxide) is analogous to carbon, bodies hav- 

 ing the constitution of alcohols may be formed in which sili- 

 con partially replaces the carbon. He has brought together 

 the results of all the researches which have been made on the 

 subject, principally by Friedel, of Paris, in connection with 

 Crafts, of Boston, and Ladenburg, of Heidelberg, and has add- 

 ed some observations of his own. The facts are that we are 

 now acquainted with a chloroform in which silicon replaces 

 carbon entirely, and with silico-heptyl and silico-nonyl al- 

 cohols, in which the carbon is thus partially replaced. Evi- 

 dence of the existence of silico-propyl, silico-amyl, and silico- 

 hexyl alcohols has also been obtained. Certain more com- 

 plex alcohols, as well as ethers and acids, containing silicon-, 

 have been prepared, and Dr. Reynolds now announces that 

 he has prepared the silicon analogue of cyanogen. The en- 



