Memoir on Sulphuric Ether. 481 
of dry sulphuric acid=60 grains of carbonic 
acid=17 charcoal+43 oxygen. But the oxy- 
gen spent in the combustion was ,°, of 250 
grains—60 grains, nearly, of which we find 
3, or rather more, in the carbonic acid pro- 
duced ; the rest must have combined with 
‘the hydrogen. And the ether consumed was 
rather more than one half of the weight of 
the oxygen, which may well be supposed to 
arise from a little loss by evaporation. This 
experiment therefore corroborates the con- 
clusion above obtained. 
My first idea of the ether atom, published 
in the table on the absorption of gases by 
water in 1803,* was 2 atoms of carbone and 
1 of hydrogen, This incorrect notion was 
formed from some of my early experiments 
combined with the analysis given by others. 
M. Saussure, in his last essay on ether, has 
determined its proportions as under ; which 
being compared with mine, are found to differ 
from them materially. 
Saussure’s. Mine. 
Carbone 67.98 ....... eseniahaiils 51.9 
SPRY ORD | NAA coccscance ssc” pace 33.7 
Hydrogen 14.40 ....sscccsssesens 14.4 
100 100.0 
* Memoirs, Vol. I. (second series). 
VOL. III. Ppp 
