Mr. Bowman on Tribasic Boracic uEther. 549 



It is therefore clearly a tribasic aether, the carbon and hy- 

 drogen being in the proportions to form aether, and the boracic 

 acid being in slight excess. The calculated results would be, 



Carbon ...... 49*34 



Hydrogen 10*27 



Oxygen 16*45 



BO a 23*94 



100*00 



The density of the vapour confirms this view of its compo- 

 ;ion : — 



sition : 



Weight of globe filled with air 



Temperature of air 



Pressure 



Temperature of bath when sealed . 

 Weight of globe full of the vapour 

 Weight of air in globe (corrected) 

 Weight of vapour in globe at 278° 

 Weight of 100 cubic inches of vapour 



at 60° and 30 inches . . . 

 Specific gravity of vapour . . . 

 Calculated specific gravity of vapour, 

 supposing it to consist of 3 equi- 

 valents of aether and 1 of B0 3 



1550*93 gr. 

 58° 



30-G1 inch. 

 278° 

 1573*14 

 8*068 gr. 



30*278 gr. 



164*81 gr. 

 5*31 



5*05 



condensed into 4 oxygen vols. 



From this it appears that it has suffered the same amount 

 of condensation as most of the monobasic aethers, notwith- 

 standing it contains 3 equivalents of aether instead of 1. The 

 theory of its formation from alcohol and chloride of boron is 

 very simple : 



BC1 3 , 3(C 4 H 6 2 ) = 3HC1 + B0 3 , 3(C 4 H 5 O). 



Tribasic boracic aether is a colourless liquid, with a pun- 

 gent, slightly aromatic smell and acrid taste. It fumes when 

 exposed to moist air, owing to the decomposition of its va- 

 pour, and round the stopper of the bottle containing it, is ge- 

 nerally formed a downy deposit of boracic acid. 



When a drop of water is added to it, boracic acid is imme- 

 diately precipitated, which is redissolved when more Mater is 

 added. A similar decomposition takes place when mixed 

 with solutions of ammonia and potash, borates of those bases 

 being formed. With alcohol and aether it is miscible in all 

 proportions. It burns with a bright green flame, giving off 

 white fumes of BO s , and leaving a residue of the fused acid. 

 The colours of dry litmus and turmeric are not changed by 



