38U IIEINRICH ROSE ON /ETIIERIKXCATION. 



by this method the aether is also obtained more pure, especially 

 irom water, and of a far lower specific gravity than when distilled 

 at a boiling heat ; but it is not convenient in the preparation of 

 aether, in so far as at this low temperature the aether, and par- 

 ticularly the last products, pass over with great slowness. 



One fact, however, seems not to admit of being quite satis- 

 factorily explained by the present theory. Seeing that water 

 acts as a base upon the oxide of aethyl, and disengages it 

 from its combinations, it must appear surprising that stronger 

 bases than water do not effect this separation still more per- 

 fectly. But solutions of the sulphovinate of potash and soda 

 may be treated with an excess of potash without the oxide 

 of aethyl being expelled ; and even the salts of the alkaline 

 earths can exist in contact with an excess of base. 



But there seems to be a difference in properties between the 

 double compound of the hydrate of sulphuric acid with the sul- 

 phate of the oxide of aethyl and the other sulphovinates. The 

 former is far easier decomposed by water than the latter ; but 

 this fact is by no means without analogy. Water is able to de- 

 compose many salts of the oxide of antimony, and displace the 

 latter from these combinations as a basic salt ; but the combina- 

 tions of the oxide of antimony with tartaric acid, and other non- 

 volatile organic acids, are not decomposed by water. 



According to the earlier method in use, aether was obtained 

 from a mixture of equal parts, by weight, of sulphuric acid and 

 alcohol ; here there is more alcohol at the commencement than 

 is requisite. In the progress of the distillation, however, the 

 quantity of sulphuric acid becomes constantly predominating, 

 in proportion as the alcohol passes over as aether ; and from 

 the great excess of the hydrate of svdphuric acid, the liberated 

 £ether is itself decomposed by the boiling, which in this case 

 takes place at a high temperature, and is then first converted 

 into a double compound of the sulphate of the oxide of a;thyl 

 with sulphate of aetherol (oleum vini) ; and lastly changed by i 

 the boiling into olefiant gas, from the presence of too great a |: 

 quantity of the hydrate of sulphuric acid, and from too high a j; 

 temperature. 



This change of ccther into oil of wine and olefiant gas, by an 

 excess of sulphuric acid and too high a temperature, is not the 

 result of a mere deprivation of water, as might be concluded from ,1 

 a comparison of the composition of thcac substances with that of 



