Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles, 4-17 



so considerable. Prof. Botto's experiments were published in 

 the Bibliolheque Universelle for September 1832, and I am not 

 aware that they have yet been published in any English Jour- 

 nal. The thermo-electric apparatus was a metallic wire, or 

 chain, consisting of 120 pieces of platinum wire, each one inch 

 in length and y^^^^ ^^ ^^ ^"^^ ^" diameter, alternating with 

 the same number of pieces of soft iron wire of the same di- 

 mensions. This wire was coiled as a helix round a wooden 

 rule 18 inches long, in such a manner that the joints were 

 placed alternately at each side of the rule, being removed from 

 the wood at one side to the distance of four lines. Employing 

 a spirit-lamp of the same length as the helix, and one of 

 Nobili's galvanometers, a very energetic current was shown to 

 exist; acidulated water was decomposed,^ and the decom- 

 position was much more abundant when copper instead of 

 platinum poles were used : in this case hydrogen only was li- 

 berated. The current and decomposition were augmented when 

 the joints were heated more highly. Better effects were ob- 

 tained with a pile of bismuth and antimony, consisting of 140 

 elements bound together into a parallelopiped, having for its 

 base a square of two inches, three lines, and an inch in height. 

 King's College, April 24, 1837. 



LXXIX. Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles, 



ETHEREAL OIL OF WINE. LIEBIG AND PELOUSE. 



IT is well known that a mixture of alcohol and water in the same 

 proportions as they exist in wine has scarcely any odour, whilst a 

 few drops of wine remaining in a bottle will be easily recognised by 

 its smell. This characteristic odour, which is possessed by all wines 

 in a greater or less degree, is produced by a peculiar substance, 

 which has all the characters of an essential oil. This substance is 

 not to be confounded with the aroma of wine; for it is not volatile, 

 and appears to be different in various kinds of wine, and in the 

 greater number it does not exist at all. 



When large quantities of wine are submitted to distillation, an 

 oily substance is obtained towards the end of the operation j it is 

 also procured from wine lees, and especially from that which is de- 

 posited in the casks after fermentation has commenced. 



This sethereal oil forms about one 40,000dth part of wine. In its 

 original state it has a strong flavour, is usually colourless, but owing 

 to the presence of a small portion of oxide of copper it is sometimes 

 greenish : when this is separated by hydrosulphuric acid it is co- 

 lourless. The mode of purifying this substance will be mentioned 

 after its composition and principal properties have been described. 



This aethercal oil of wine contains a considerable quantity of oxy- 

 Third Series. Vol. 10. No. 62. May 1837. 3 H 



