396 Intelh'geJice and Miscellaneous Articles. 



aid of heat this class of salts lost a portion of their water without 

 suffering decomposition. Here the matter rested, until M. Marchand 

 discovered that the sulphovinates lose their water, with extreme faci- 

 lity, at ordinary temperatures, when placed over sulphuric acid in va- 

 cuo. It follows from his experiments that the sulphovinates of lime, 

 barytes, and soda may be represented by the following formula : 



2 So3 + Ba O (Ca O, Na O) + E O + 2 Aq. 

 And that, if we abstract, by means of the air-pump, the two equiva- 

 lents of water which they contain, we then obtain a salt which is com- 

 posed of 2 eqs. of sulphuric acid, I eq. of base, and 1 eq. of aether, 

 Sulphovinate of potash does not contain any water of crystallization. 

 M. Liebig has repeated the experiments of M. Marchand to verify 

 their important results and to confirm them in a more complete man- 

 ner ; but he does not admit the doubt that this chemist has raised, as 

 to the formation of alcohol, when sulphovinate of potash is distilled 

 with quicklime. This formation, which M. Mitscherlichhas noticed in 

 his treatise, is not only, he says, an accurate fact, but there is produced 

 at the same time the oil of wine and combined hydrogen {I'hydrogene 

 combine) of SeruUas. Thus, if we mix sulphovinate of potash with 

 hydrate of lime and expose it to a heat of not above 392° Fahr., we 

 only obtain alcohol, and the mixture does not blacken ; but if we use 

 quicklime instead of its hydrate, distillation affords a liquid from 

 which, when mixed with water, sulphate of oil of wine is precipitated ; 

 and if from the beginning a strong heat has been applied, the mixture 

 blackens, and there is olefiant gas obtained along with the alcohol 

 and sulphate of oil of wine. The formation of the alcohol is easily 

 explained by the composition of sulphate of oil of wine : this sub- 

 stance consists of 2 eqs. of sulphuric acid, besides 8 C + 18 H + 0; 

 and by adding to this formula an equivalent of alcohol, 4 C+ 12 

 H-I-2 0, we obtain 12 C + 30 H + 3 O, that is to say, 3 eqs. of 

 aether. At the close of this investigation, M. Liebig relates the two 

 following experiments, which are remarkable for their elegance. 

 When a mixture of five parts of sulphovinate of lime and one part of 

 acetic acid — such as is obtained from dry acetate of lead and sul- 

 phuric acid — is distilled with a gentle heat, a large quantity of pure 

 acetic aether is obtained. By distilling five parts of sulphovinate of 

 potash with five parts of sulphuric acid diluted with one part of water, 

 wt obtain perfectly pure aether. Pure acetic aether is also procured 

 by heating concentrated phosphovinic acid with acetate of potash. — 

 Journ.de Pharmacie, Fev. 1836. 



HAS HEAT WEIGHT f 



To the Editors of the Phil. Mag. and Journal of Science. 



Gentlemen, 

 The question, " Has heat weight ?" has been long matter of dis- 

 pute, and it is not easy to answer those who contend, that if its 

 weight be in the same ratio to that of hydrogen, as that is to the 



