JOURNAL 



NATURAL PHILOSOPHY, CHEMISTRY, 



AND 



THE ARTS. 



DECEMBER 1797. 



ARTICLE r. 



Canctrtiing the Spotitaneous ABlon of Concentrated Sulphuric jlcid on Vegetable and Animal Suh- 

 Jlances; its Action upon Alcohol ^ and the Formation of Ether. By Citizens FoVRCROr and 



JLT has been long known that the concentrated fulphurlc acid deftroys the texture of or- 

 ganic matters, by converting them into coal, in confequence of an aftion which refembles 

 that of an elevated temperature ; but this ailion has not yet been properly explained, fo as to 

 determine in what it may confift, or the produ£t:s it affords. The ancient theory of che- 

 -Iniftry attributed this effcd, in a loofe manner, to the affinity of phlogifton for the fulphuric 

 acid, and was content to compare it to combuflion. The authors of the pneumatic theory 

 difcerned fome of the data of this phenomenon, and arrived fomewhat nearer the truth : 

 but they did not comprehend the whole. They have even committed fome miftakes, doubt- 

 Icfs becaufe they did not ftudy all the details of this remarkable adion, nor obferve with 

 fufficient care every thing that padiis in the fubje£ls of the experiments. My aflbciate 

 Vauquelin has long been employed, in conjun£\ion with myfelf, upon various methods of 

 analyfing vegetables; and having fubmitted a great number to the energy of the principal 

 re-agents among which the acids occupy the firfl rank, a long ftudy of the adion and 

 curious effects of the concentrated fulphuric acid has led us to difcover what had hitherto 

 efcaped llic obfervation of chcmifts rcfpedling its manner of a£lIon upon organic fubftances. 

 Though the rcfult of our enquiries in this refpeifl belongs dircftly to the vegetable analyfis, 

 whicli we fliall offer to the fcientific world as foon as our labour (hall have acquired all the 

 maturity wc are defirous it ftiall poflefs, we have nevcrthcltfs thought proper to detach thi» 

 Cmall part, becaufe it appears worthy to intcred the cultivatorJof chcmiftry, and at thcfamo 

 Vol. I — DtctiiiiER 1797. 3D tjma 



