of the Slow Combustion of Ether. 71 



is deposited a resinous-looking substance of a bright yellow 

 colour. These products were collected and examined as fol- 

 lows : — 



Exp. 11. — .The liquid was purified from any spirituous or 

 etherial mixture by careful distillation. The fluid condensed 

 from this rectification was colourless, inflammable, and of a 

 pungent very disagreeable smell. It was not affected by mix- 

 ture with water, or alcohol, and did not affect the colour of 

 litmus. The residual liquor was of a bright yellow colour, of 

 a hot, acrid, and nauseous taste, and turned litmus paper red. 

 Its smell was suffocating, and very unpleasant. It effected the 

 reduction of the metals from their solutions in the same way as 

 the lampic acid, but even more speedily. It instantly converted 

 per-acetate of mercury into proto-acetate. 



Exp. 12. — The resinous substance was highly inflammable- 

 It burned rapidly with a hissing noise and scintillation, leaving 

 a very bulky coal, such as is formed by the decomposition of a 

 quill or other animal matter. It was soluble both in water and 

 alcohol, but very sparingly in ether. Its taste was bitter, 

 astringent, and very unpleasant. 



Exp. 13. — ^The solutions of this matter produced the same 

 effect upon the metallic salts as the distilled liquid ; and when 

 the acid of the latter was neutralised by an alkali, much of the 

 resinous substance was obtained by gentle evaporation. 



Exp. 14. — Its vapour, when heated, smelled very strongly of 

 ammonia. A small piece of it was placed in a glass tube with 

 a piece of turmeric paper, and upon the application of heat, the 

 colour of the paper was turned to red. 



Exp. 15. — It did not burn out of the contact of oxygen. 



Exp. 16. — With the assistance of Mr. Faraday, I attempted 

 to analyse this curious and interesting substance by means of 

 per-oxide of copper. A quantity, weighing 1.8 grains, was 

 taken, which was at first rather tough and tenacious. Being 

 exposed to a very gentle heat, it lost in weight 0.2 grains, and 

 became more hard and brittle. It was then triturated in a 

 mortar, and well mixed with a large quantity of pcr-oxide of 

 copper, and exposed to a red heat in an iron tube. The pro- 



