146 Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 



washed with cold water ; they are then dissolved in hoiling water 

 and recrystallized ; again well- washed, and finally dissolved in as 

 small a quantity of boiling water as possible ; a little animal char- 

 coal is to be added, and the ebullition continued for a short time ; 

 on filtration and cooling, the new body crystallizes as a bulky assem- 

 blage of tufts, filling the vessels; on drying they form into paper- 

 like masses, of a perfectly white colour and a beautiful silky lustre. 



This body is sparingly soluble in cold water, considerably more so 

 in hot water ; soluble in ammonia, from which it crystallizes as the 

 ammonia is driven off by heat ; it is likewise soluble in acids. 



From the process pursued in separating this substance from cochi- 

 neal there is no doubt that it pre-exists, and is not produced by the 

 operation ; it may, however, be a product of oxidation of some part 

 of the insect during its preparation for commerce. Three hundred 

 parts of cochineal yield one part of the new body. 



SULPHUROUS iETHElt. 



This product was obtained by MM. Ebelmen and Bouquet : by 

 pouring absolute alcohol on protochloride of sulphur, heat is disen- 

 gaged, with an abundant production of hydrochloric acid and depo- 

 sition of sulphur ; the alcohol is to be added till all action ceases, 

 the mixture is then to be distilled ; there passes at first at about 

 176° Fahr., an abundant product, which is merely alcohol contain- 

 ing much hydrochloric acid ; the temperature of the liquid afterwards 

 rises rapidly ; it becomes clear by the fusion of the sulphur which it 

 contained in suspension, assumes a reddish-brown colour, and 

 yields, between 302° and 338° Fahr., a product which is to be sepa- 

 rately received. There remains in the retort a considerable deposit 

 of fused sulphur. The liquor distilled between 302° and 338° was 

 twice rectified and yielded a limpid colourless product, of a peculiar 

 sethereal odour, somewhat resembling that of mint ; its taste is at 

 first cooling, afterwards burning, and there is left an after-taste of 

 sulphur ; its boiling-point is stationary at 320°. 



According to M. Pierre, the density of sulphurous aether is 1"085 

 at 60° Fahr. and 1'106 at 32°. It mixes with alcohol in all propor- 

 tions ; water decomposes the mixture, redissolving the deposit very 

 slowly, and exhaling the odour of sulphurous acid. ./Ether which 

 had been prepared for some time and kept in badly stopped bottles, 

 is similarly decomposed by the moisture of the air. An alcoholic 

 solution of potash dissolves this aether rapidly. The liquor diluted 

 with water gives no further precipitate, and when saturated with 

 hydrochloric acid, a strong smell of sulphurous acid is produced. 

 Sulphurous aether does not burn when exposed to a body in combus- 

 tion, unless it is previously made hot. Its flame is bluish, accom- 

 panied with a strong sulphurous odour. 



In analysing this aether, the sulphur was determined by dissolving 

 a known weight of it in an alcoholic solution of potash ; the solu- 

 tion was diluted with water, boiled to expel the alcohol, and then 

 saturated with chlorine, which converted the sulphurous into sul- 

 phuric acid ; the liquor after being rendered acid with hydrochloric 



