u 



METHYL, 



nt that they spprorsd of and adhered 

 ey ; and that they denied the right OD 



to UM durtriaws of Joitn Westojr . 



JUM or seriptunl ground of the Conference to auuiue to be the 

 UsrulaUre body. They also resolved that leaden and office- 

 should be chosen by the church ; that adiui wi>ni into and 

 - from tew church. an<l all disciplinary acU, ahould be deter- 

 by a leader*' meeting, subject to an ap;al to the quarterly 

 meeting; that the quarterly meeting should ooniiit of all the travell- 

 ing and local teachers, leaden, trustee*, and stewards of the aooiety ; 

 that the district meeting* ahould oonaiet of the travelling preachers 

 of the district and of an equal number of lay representative!, to be 

 oh IBM a* the March quartorly iiiuetinga; and that the Connectiunal 

 Committee* ahould consist equally of preachen and lay member* of 

 the society. This aeoewiou it wai estimated draw off 100,000 mem- 

 ben from the parent itock ; but a Urge body of the reformers having 

 joined the Wealeyan Association in forming the United Methodist 

 Free Church, the Reform I'niirn number* only about 60,000, with 

 upward* of 8000 place* of worship, about 3000 preachers, and 500 

 clan leaders. The attendance on Census Sunday, 1851, was morning,' 

 10,470; afternoon, 16,080; evening, 44,963. The report of the 

 eleventh delegate meeting, held in October, 1869, state* that there were 

 then in the Union, S61 chapels, 136 preaching plaoes, 873 preachers, 

 and 118 on trial, 27 ministers, 1U50 leaden, 17,088 members, and 1178 

 on trial, and 31,093 scholars. 



The report of the third annual meeting of the United Ntthoditt 

 Fnt Church, held in July and August, 1859, states that in their Con- 

 nexion there are 825 chapels, 422 preaching places, 163 itinerant 

 preaohera. 3522 local preaohera, 2u95 leaden, 60,133 members, and 

 8799 on trial, and 97,961 Sunday scholars. 



(Reports of the Annual Conference* of the various sects, and the 

 report of the registrar-general on Jitliyiout Wonltiji after the Census of 

 1851, published in 1853.) 



MKTHOL. A hydrocarbon constituent of wood naphtha. It is 

 lighter than water, boil* at 847" Fahr., and smells like spirit of 

 turpentine. 



METHYL; MKTHYLO; METRO. Prefixes used in chemical 

 nomenclature to denote the presence of the radical methyl in the 

 compound* to which they are applied. Thus methylconine signifies 

 conine in which hydrogen is replaced by methyl. Such bodies, when 

 of sufficient importance, will be found described under the name before 

 which the prefix is placed, thus methyl-urea will be found under 

 I' UFA, lie. 



METHYL CP'H'J ) An organic radical, homologous with ETHYL. 



It is the lowest term in the series C. H.+ 1. Like ethyl it forms a very 

 numerous class of compounds, but they have not been so completely 

 investigated a* those of the latter radical. 



Methyl is obtained by acting upon iodide of methyl with zinc, 

 In precisely the same way a* described under the preparation of 

 KTHTL. 



Methyl is a colourless gas, of specific gravity 1'0305. It burns with 

 a bluish, scarcely luminous flame, is almost insoluble in water, and 

 only slightly so in alcohol. It is colourless and tasteless, and is not 

 Uquefled at a temperature of Fahr. Neither concentrated sulphuric 

 eld, fuming nitric acid, nor caustic potanh, act upon it. It does not 

 combine directly with oxygen, sulphur, or iodine, nor in the dark with 

 chlorine ; but when two volume* of the latter gas and one of methyl 

 are exposed to diffused daylight, a mixture of hydrochloric acid gas and 

 n'ntnfltl 'r-mrlk>il (C,H,('li i* produced, no condensation occurring. 



J/ydridt / methyl <C,H. = C,H V H). tight caroureticd hydrogen; 

 Sitkfarkmrtilfd hytlnye* ; formen ; HarA-gat, or Pin-dump. 



The lant two are the name* for thin ga* in it* beet known form. It 

 sometimes issue*, for month* together, from a fisiure in a coal aeam, 

 rushing forth a* if escaping from under high pressure. " Blowen" is 

 the nun* given by the miners to these natural discharge* of fire-damp. 

 They are sometimes so numerous in a mine that it could not be safely 

 worked were it not for the use of the safety-lamp, discovered by Sir 

 H. Davy. [LAMP, lAnmr.] fly it* means the miner is enabled to 

 won: in atmosphen* that would be set fire to were hi* source of light 

 a naked Asm*. 



Hydride of methyl U also one of the gaseous exhalations from marshes 

 sod stagnant pools, and hence the name of monk-go*. The bubble* of 

 gas that rise to the surface when the mud at the bottom of a pond is 

 stirred with a stick consist chiefly of marsh gas. 



Hydride of methyl may be artificially prepared by strongly beating 

 a mixture of four part* of crystallised acetate of soda, four of solid 

 hydrate of potash, and six of powdered quicklime. 



Hydride of nwtbyl is colourless, inodorous, tastel***, and insoluble In 

 water. HptotBc gravity 0'669. Air conUining a Urge per-centage of 

 it may be inhaled, for almost any length of time, without producing 

 the l>irtiUrt apparent injury. It is inflammable, burning with a yellow, 



somewhat feebly luminous flame, the product* of n being 



carbonic aci<l ami water. For this combustion twice it* bulk, or two 

 Tolnnw*. of oxygen are necessary, one volume of carUnic and two of 

 steam resulting. Inasmuch, however, as this oxygen i, in the case of 

 cn||i-ry explosions, obtained from the air, and as moreover air only 

 contains one fifth of H* bulk of oxygen (the remaining four-fifths being 



nitrogen, which alone cannot support life), it follows that the burning 

 of fire-damp i* immediately attended with the complete spoliation of 

 ton time* its bulk of air, the production of an equal quantity of 

 suffocating gas, and the consequent vitiation of the whole atmos- 

 phere in the neighbourhood. The effect of such a state of tilings U, 

 unhappily, only too well known to the miner, who fears the after- 

 damp. or ill / f/<imu as he calls it, perhaps more than he does toe. 

 explosion iUvlf. 



Onde of mtthyl (C,H,0,C,H,0). ifethylie ether. Thi* body corre- 

 sponds to the ordinary ether, or correctly speaking ethylio ether, of the 

 ETHYL series of compounds. It U also produced in a similar manner, 

 namely, by submitting to distillation a mixture of methylio alcohol 

 and sulphuric acid. Unlike ethylio ether, however, methylio ether U 

 at ordinary temperature* a permanent ga. When cooled to 65 below 

 the I reeling point of water, by means of a mixture of snow ami chloride 

 of calcium, it condenses to a liquid, the boiling point of which is 6 

 Fahr. (Berthollet). Its specific gravity is T617. It U inflammable, 

 burning with a pale flame, is soluble in water to the extent of i 

 seven time* it* bulk, and still more soluble in alcohol. It is colourless, 

 has an oppressive ethereal odour and pungent u*tc, properties also 

 possessed by its solutions. From it* formula it will lie observed that 

 methylic ether is isoineric with common alcohol ; in vapour-density 

 the two are also identical. Methylic ether dissolves in strong sulphuric 

 ncid, but is again evolved on dilution. Anhydrous sulphuric acid com- 

 bine* with it, and forms sulphate of methyl. 



Oxide of methyl, like oxide of ethyl, combines with acids to form a 

 class of ethereal salt*, much resembling those described uml i i 

 They are also, for the most part, prepared in the same way. The 

 following are the formulae of a few of the principal one* : detail* con- 

 cerning them will be found in the articles on the respective add*, under 

 the name of iml/t'/lic licriiutira of the acid : 



Acetate of methyl (methyl-acetic ether) . . 

 Benzoatc of methyl (raethyl-bonzoic ether) 

 Derate of methyl (mrlhyl-boracic ether) . . 

 Butyrate of methyl (methyl-butyric ether) 

 Cyanute of methyl (methyl-cyanic ether) . , 

 Cyanuratc of methyl (mctbyl-cyanuric ether) , 

 Formiatc of methyl (methyl-formic ether) . 

 If ypiini trite of methyl (methyl-nitroui ether) 

 Nitrate of methyl (methyl-nitric ether) . , 

 Oxalate of methyl (methyl-oxalic ethrr) , 

 Salicylate of methyl (methyl-salicylic ether) , 

 Sulpbamate of methyl (sulphametbylane) . 

 Sulphate of methyl (methyl-sulphuric ether) 

 Valerato of methyl ( methyl-valeric ether) . 



C.,H,0, C.HjO, 



C,H,O,C I ,II,O, 



SCjHjO, BO, 



c,n,o, c.n.o, 



C,H,O, C,NO 

 3C.U.O, C.N.O, 

 C.H.O. C.HO, 

 C.HjO, NO}! 

 C,H,O, NO t 

 2C,H,0, C,0. 



c,u,o,c l4 n,o. 



C,!1,O, NH,(SO,)0, 

 C,H,0, SO, 



Butyrate of methyl has an odour resembling that of the rennet apple. 

 Oxalate of methyl is solid at ordinary temperatures. Salicylate of 

 methyl is identical with oil of wintergreen. [EssKNTfAL OILS.] 



Chlorine derivative* of oxide of methyl. Chlorine acts upon methylic 

 ether, and successively removes and replaces one, two, and three equi- 

 valents of hydrogen ; mono-, bi-, and per-chlorinated bodies being i 

 (C.H.C1.0 :C,HCI ..,( 



Ilydratrd oxide of methyl (C.H.p.HO). Mtth>,lie alfohol ; 

 tfiirit ; Pyrojnilir rpirit. This liquid is a strict 'homologue of vinio 

 alcohol. Its source is the aqueous portion of the volatile products of 

 the destructive distillation of wood. [CHARCOAL ; ACKTU ,\< in.] After 

 rectification from lime it is sent into commerce under the name of 

 mod naphtha. The latter liquid, however, in addition to m, 

 alcohol, contains acetate of methyl and some oily hydrocarbons. To 

 purify it from the acetate it is rectified from caustic soda, and the dis- 

 tillate having been digested with chloride of calcium (wliicli combines 

 with the methylic alcohol and forms a non-volatile salt), the 1 

 carbons are got rid of by a second distillation, at a heat of 212 ; 

 being now added to the salt, decomposition taken place, and the aqueous 

 methylic alcohol separated by distillation is finally obtained pure and 

 anhydrous on being re-rectified from lime. 



Hydrate of methyl U a colourless liquid, of specific gravity 0798 at 

 69* Fahr. It his an unpleasant burning taste, and an empyrcumatic 

 odour. When absolutely pure, however, it* odour is rather agreeable 

 than otherwise. It is readily soluble in water, alcohol, or ether. It 

 burns ^with a pale flame, resembling that of alcohol. It* boiling point 

 is 142" Fahr. When pure it gives no cloudiness on mixing with water, 

 nor does it give a black precipitate of metallic mercury when added to 

 a solution of mercurous nitrate. It dissolves the solid alkalies, but is 

 immediately coloured brown by them, a reaction that distinguishes it 

 from ethylic alcohol, which is not so coloured until after the lapse of 

 considerable time. 



The chief use of crude woodspirit in the arts is for dissolving 



shellac, and other resins, the solutions thus formed being largely used 



in llATMANrrACTUltR. For this and other purposes, however, ni'thy/at/d 



pirit is now commonly used ; it is a mixture of spirit of wine of fifty 



>t. over-proof, willi on,- nint.li of its bulk ,,f woo<lpirit. 



The strength of woodspirit may !.< <->,nvuiiiuntly estimated by a 

 hydrometer. The annexed table, by Deville, shows what pcr-centage 



