77 



ETHICS. 



ETHYL. 



973 



two different radicals, constituting what is termed a mired ether, thus : 



Methylovinic ether . . . ,,',,* } 



C,H 5 J 



The ethers are produced either by distilling the corresponding alcohol 

 with concentrated sulphuric acid, which abstracts water from them, 



Vinic alcohol. Vinic ether. 

 or by treating the potassiated alcohol with a haloid ether, thus : 



Ethylate of 

 potuh. 



Iodide of 

 ethjl. 



Iodide of Vinic ether, 

 potasfiam. 



The mixed ethers are most conveniently produced by the last re-action 

 thus: 



C.H. 



Iodide of 

 methyl. 



The ethers are generally liquid at ordinary temperatures, but methylic 

 ether is gaseous, and some of the higher terms of the family (as cetylic 

 ether) are solid. They are neutral in their action upon test-papers, 

 and are generally volatile without decomposition. In contact with 

 strong acids they behave like the corresponding alcohols, although 

 their affinities are of a lees energetic character. A description of each 

 ether will be found under the head of its constituent radical ; thus, 

 methylic ether under MKTHTL, and vinic ether under ETHYL. 



Haloid Ethert. The haloid ethers constitute, in organic chemistry, a 

 family of bodies occupying a position analogous to that of the hydracids, 

 aa hydrochloric acid, in inorganic compounds. In fact a hydracid is 

 transformed into a haloid ether by replacing its hydrogen by an equi 

 valent of a poritive organic radical Thus : 



Alcohol. Hydrochloric 

 acid. 



Chloride of 

 ethyl. 



The haloid ethers closely resemble the ethers in their appearance ; they 

 are volatile odoriferous bodies, mostly liquid, although a few are 

 gaMou*, and others solid. In contact with alcoholic solution of potash 

 they are decomposed, the alcohol from which the haloid ether was 

 derived being regenerated. 



Chloride of 

 ethyl. 



Alcohol. 



The haloid ethers containing iodine are decomposed by zinc at 

 elevated temperatures, with the separation of the radical. [ETHYL.] 

 A description of the different haloid ethers will be found under the 

 respective compound radicals. 



KTHICS is the science which relates to our mental affections, not 

 simply as a phenomena, but as they are virtuous or vicious, right or 

 wrong. The term is derived from the Greek Wiiti, which is equiva- 

 lent with the Latin mot, morn, whence the adjective moralit, and the 

 English word moral*. Aristotle, in the second book of his ' Ethics,' ad- 

 dressed to his son Nicomachus, says that moral science received the 

 name of ethics from the word (Ao$ (Wo), ' habit, use, or custom,' 

 (40iV,fcr& TOW tfovt, or a-rb rur ijiay), since it is from habitual expe- 

 rience, and routine of customary conduct that moral dispositions 

 and principles are gradually formed and changed. Cicero, in his 

 work on Moral Ends (' De Finibus,' 1 and 5), briefly defines ethics, or 

 morality, as the ' are vivendi,' or ' doctrina bene vivendi,' that is, the 

 art of living wisely. The scholastic treatises on ethics divide the prac- 

 tical part of the science into three departments, (Mice (liOuc-fi), which 

 hows by appropriate precepts what is the duty of a good man ; ceeoni- 

 mite (oMoropur^), which shows what is the duty of a good father of a 

 family ; and juJitite (iroAiruc^), which exhibits the duty of a good 

 citizen, and of a good magistrate. [MORALS.] 



KTH IONIC ACID (C.H , 2H0^4SO,). This acid is prepared by 

 purring the vapour of anhydrous sulphuric acid slowly into absolute 

 alcohol kept cold ; by their mutual action an oleaginous fluid is formed, 

 without the evolution of any gaseous matter. This fluid is to be mixed 

 with water and saturated with baryta, by which a portion of sulphate 

 U separated, and ethionate of baryta is obtained by evaporation in 

 vacuo. 



Ethionic acid may also be prepared by the action of anhydrous sul- 

 phuric acid upon olefiant gas. 



ART* AXD SCI. DtV. VOL. lit 



ETHIOPS' MINERAL. [MERCURY, sulphide of.] 



ETHYL (c*H jj' Thia I ^ anic Radical is one of the most 

 important of the class of chemical compounds to which it. belongs. It 

 is not only capable of being obtained in a separate or free state, but it 

 also forms a more numerous and better studied class of organic 

 compounds than any other organic radical. In all its compounds it 

 stands in the same relation to the element or elements with which it 

 is united, as hydrogen occupies when analogously united with the same 

 elements. Thus we have 



Oxide of hydrogen, 

 or water. 



C.H,0, 



Acetic acid. 



llydriodic acid. 



and 



and 



and 



and 



Oxide of ethyl, 

 or ether. 



Ammonia. 



Iodide of ethyl. 



Triethylamine. 



These examples, which might be greatly multiplied, show that ethyl 

 possesses the closest chemical relationship to hydrogen, and as hydrogen 

 in ite elementary or free condition is now usually represented by 



/"TT \ ~~ 



chemists as a double atom ( jj } ), so the formula of ethyl is now 



(r H i \ 

 n ii 5 f I 

 ^"s J ' t 



Ethyl may be readily prepared in a state of purity by decomposing 

 iodide of ethyl by granulated zinc, in a sealed glass tube, at a tempe- 

 rature of about 300 Fahr. The following decomposition takes place : 



Zn, = {f + 





 Iodide of zinc. Ethyl. 



Simultaneously with this reaction there occurs another, by which 

 zinctthyl is produced (see zincethyl, col. 982). A portion of the ethyl is 

 also decomposed into hydride of ethyl and olefiant gas. 



Iodide of ethyl. 



Ethyl. 



= C.H. 



* ^ . 



Olefiant gas. Hydride of 

 ethyl. 



On breaking off the extremity of the sealed glass tube beneath the edge 

 of an inverted receiver filled with water and standing on the shelf of 

 the pneumatic trough, the gaseous products of the decomposition, 

 namely, ethyl, olefiant gas, and hydride of ethyl, rush out with great 

 violence ; but, owing to a portion of the ethyl being liquified in the 

 tube by the great pressure, that body requires more time for its com- 

 plete gasification than is necessary for the complete expulsion of the 

 hydride of ethyl and olefiant gas : consequently, if the last portion of 

 put be collected apart, it is found to consist of pure ethyl. 



Ethyl is a colourless gas, possessing a very slight ethereal odour, 

 turning with a brilliant white flame, and having a specific gravity of 

 2'0039. It is incondensable at a temperature of Fahr., but exposed 

 a a pressure of 2} atmospheres at 37 Fahr. it condenses to a colour- 

 ess, transparent, and mobile liquid, which instantly resumes the gaseous 

 condition on the pressure being removed. Its boiling point is conse- 

 quently about 9'5 Fahr. Alcohol absorbs about 18 times its volume 

 of this gas. It is also slightly soluble in water, and considerably so 

 n ether. 



Ethyl, once isolated, cannot be made tore-combine with any element 

 at ordinary temperatures. In this respect it also resembles hydrogen, 

 >ut in the case of this element the application of a red heat serves to 

 make it combine with most negative elements, as oxygen, sulphur, 

 chlorine, &C. : but a less degree of heat applied to ethyl utterly decom- 

 >oses this radical, and hence all attempts to re-combine ethyl have 

 litherto failed. 



Although no compound of ethyl can be directly formed from the 

 radical, yet a large number of such compounds may be obtained from 



ts hydrated oxide (alcohol Sr 5 > 0,1, and we will now describe some 



if the most important of these compounds. 



Hydride of ethyl (C.H 5 ,H). Obtained by heating together equal parts 

 f water and of iodide of ethyl with granulated zinc, for a couple of 

 icurs, in a hermetically sealed tube or digester [DIOESTEK], at a tern- 



9* 



