4-74 Prof. Hare's Observations on 



and generally in connection with it; this is the neutral car- 

 bonate of magnesia. If, namely, we evaporate a solution of this 

 salt in carbonated water to dryness on a water-bath, a crystal- 

 line powder is obtained, which under the microscope exhibits 

 crystals similar to those of arragonite, and much larger than 

 those obtained by the evaporation of a solution of carbonate 

 of lime. They are however not found alone in this powder, 

 but in company with the eccentric-radiated globules de- 

 scribed by Fritzsche*, and which he proved to belong to 

 magnesia alba : I mention the first, however, as it is the first 

 time that the neutral carbonate of magnesia has been pre- 

 pared in a state free from water. 



I have hitherto not been able to pay that attention to these 

 latter bodies which they deserve. There remains a wide field 

 open for new experiments. 



LX X 1 1 1. Observations on Sulphurous jEther^ and Sulphate of 

 jEtherine (the true Sulphuric jEther). By R. Hare, M.D., 

 Professor of Chemistry in the University of Pennsylvania. '^\ 



TT is known that when two parts, by weight, of sulphuric acid 

 ■^ are distilled with one of alcohol, a yellow sulphurous li- 

 quid is obtained. Berzelius alleges, that when this liquid is 

 exposed in an exhausted receiver over sulphuric acid and 

 hydrate of potash, an oleaginous liquid remains, which he de- 

 signates as ^^ oil of wine containing sulphuric acid, or heavy oil 

 of wine" 



This oil is, by the same author, described as being heavier 

 than water, as having a penetrating aromatic odour, and a 

 cool pungent taste, resembling that of peppermint. It is, in 

 fact, the liquid which Hennel first analysed as oil of wine, 

 without, at the same time, mentioning the process by which 

 it was procured. No doubt the difference between it and that 

 procured by Boullay and Dumas, was, in some degree, the 

 cause of the discordance between his observation and theirs. 

 According to Hennel, the oil of wine consists of an atom of 



sulphuric acid, and an atom of hydrocarbon : S + 4C + 4 H. 

 By the last-mentioned appellation, this skilful chemist desig- 

 nates a compound consisting of four atoms of carbon, and four 

 of hydrogen. 



SeruUas represents the oil in question as consisting of two 

 atoms of the acid, two of hydrocarbon or aetherine, and one 

 of water. 



* Poggendorff's Annalen^ vol. xxvii. p. 304. 



t From the Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, N.S., 

 vol.v. p. 347. 



