230 ESSAY XX. 



this air, the matter of heat flies off, and the sulphur 

 precipitates. This I apply to the explication of the generation 

 of ether ; and we know beforehand that manganese, when 

 united with an acid, has a strong attraction for phlogiston. 

 Now, if this metallic calx, spirit of wine, salt and vitriolic 

 acid, be mixed, the manganese will unite with a part of the 

 phlogiston of the spirit of wine, and the matter of heat, 

 which becomes so evident in this process that the mixture 

 boils of itself (Sees. i. (a), in. (a)), is set free, by its 

 separation from the phlogiston ; and thus the oil of spirit of 

 wine, or ether, is separated from the water. The ether, in 

 this case, commonly carries along with it a small admixture 

 of the acid, which served to its separation from the water 

 (Sees. IL, iv.) ; but this small quantity of acid is so insignificant 

 in rectified ether, that it cannot be maintained with certainty 

 that there exists no ether at all without some mineral acid. 

 The small portion of vinegar and aerial acid which I observed 

 in some distillations (Sec. I. (c)), arises from the total 

 decomposition of a small portion of ether; for it is very 

 probable that the oil of spirit of wine consists of acetous 

 acid and phlogiston ; whereas calx of iron, dissolved in 

 muriatic acid (Sec. n. (c)) and distilled with spirit of wine, 

 yields ether ; whence it appears why the tinctura ferri of the 

 riiarniacopoaia Suecica in time acquires a smell like nitrous 

 ether. 



