Action of Sulphuric Acid on Alcohol. 269 
claire de chaux eteinte) and filter. After concentrating it a 
little by a gentle evaporation, cool it, filter again and allow 
it to evaporate inastove. It crystallizes slowly but perfectly, 
and we have thus a large quantity of sulpho-vinate, very pure. . 
This sulpho-vinate of lime, being dried with great care, and 
heated ina retort, the principal product collected is the neu- 
tral sulphate of carbonated hydrogen. 
e sweet oil of wine obtained in the best manner, by 
treating the neutral sulphate of carbonated hydrogen with 
water and heat, is slightly yellow like olive oil, has an aro- 
matic odor, density .921, greases paper like oils, thickens by 
cold without losing its transparency, and at 35°is solid. When 
perfectly deprived of water it is a non conductor of electri- 
city; and may be taken as a type of non conducting oily 
uids, 
The author infers from his analyses that it consists of 6 
parts of carbon and one of hydrogen. 
The crystalline matter which separates from it has the 
same com tion. 
The inferences which M. Serullas draws from his investi- 
gation, are on the whole, as follows. 
1, That in the action of sulphuric acid on alcohol, there is 
not formed, as has been believed, hypo-sulphuric acid, united 
to vegetable matter, (sulpho-vinic acid. 
. That there is produced, on this occasion, a combination 
of sulphuric acid in excess, carbonated hydrogen, and ele- 
ments of water in proportions which constitute ether (bi-sul- 
phate,) which abandons successively, by ebullition the ether 
which it contains; consequently the sulphuric acid has taken 
from the alcohol, an atom of water. 
3. That the bi-sulphate of ether, in the reaction observed 
at a later stage, in the same operation, loses the part of sul- 
phuric acid which rendered it acid, or rather becomes satu- 
rated with carbonated hydrogen, and forms then a neutral 
sulphate of ether, or a double sulphate of ether and carbon- 
ated hydrogen, one part of which distils, while another is de- 
composed and gives rise to all the products which are known 
to appear at the same time. : 
4. That the neutral sulphate of ether, which must now 
be ranked among well characterised chemical compounds, 
and which may be assimilated with ethers of the third kind, 
is susceptible by its exsiccation, and remaining in a vacuum 
of acquiring a fine green color; that it passes by prolonged 
