372 ODOROGEAPHIA. 



(C„ Hj. S O3, and ethyl-sulphate (C. H.). S 0^. A mixture of 

 the latter ethers with etherin and etherol was formerly designated 

 as ' heavy oil of wine.' " 



The authors of the I^ational Dispensatory, iii. edit., p. 1043, in 

 connection with the subject of oleum Kthereum, state, regarding 

 the composition of heavy oil of wine, as follows : — " The analyses 

 of SeruUas, Liebig and others lead to the empirical formula 

 Cp H^g S., 0-. Serullas regarded heavy oil of wine as the double 

 sulphate of ethyl and ethylene : Liebig as ethyl-sulphate (sulpho- 

 vmate) of etherol. The latter view appears to be the more correct 

 if the decomposition with water is taken into consideration. 

 Alkalies also decompose it into sulphovinate of the alkali, 

 liberating etherol. Or it may be related to sulphuric ether or 

 ethyl-sulphate discovered by Wetherill (1848), which is a yellowish 

 oil of the sp. gr. 1120, has a peppermint-like odour and pungent 

 taste, and the composition of which is expressed by the formula 

 (C2H.)oS0^. Sulphurous ether or ethyl-sulphite, (C. H.)2r 

 which was discovered by Ebelmen (1845), has the sp. gr. 1*17 at 

 0*^, boils at 208*^ C, and is decomposed by potassa into potassium- 

 sulphite and alcohol. In 1881, Hartwig examined the oily liquid 

 which may be obtained by distilling the acid residue left in the 

 distillation of ether.* This oil has been sold as oil of wine, but is 

 totally different from both the heavy and light oils of wine mentioned 

 above, and consists of hydrocarbons, ethers and ketones, among 

 them ethyl-amyl ether, C. H, — C. H^ ^0, which boils at 112^ C. ; 

 di-isoamylene, Cj^Hoo, boiling at 157° C. ; ethyl-amyl ketone^ 

 C, H- — C.- H^Li^ 0' boiling near 155^^ C. ; methyl-hexyl ketone, 

 and several others having a higher boiling point." In the United 

 States Dispensatory the chemistry of this subject is also briefly 

 reviewed, but without affording any further information than that 

 which has been presented in the preceding notices. 



A concise but very comprehensive view of this subject is given 

 by Eoscoe and Schorlemmer in their " Treatise on Chemistry," iii., 

 pt. i., pp. 353-355. In connection with the normal ethyl-sulphate 

 these authors present the following information : — " Normcd ethyl 

 sulj)hrfte, {Co Bl.).-, SO ^. This compound was examined by 

 chemists in the last century, but its nature has only quite recently 

 been ascertained. Formerly this ether was prepared Ijy distilling 



* Journ. f. Prakt. Cliem., No. 10, 1881 ; and Chemical News, 1881, p. 122. 



