7CO ETHYL. 



upon barks, but more particularly cork. It is produced, like- 

 wise, from stearic and oleic acids in the same manner. Suberic 

 acid is deposited from a saturated hot solution in water, as a 

 white earthy powder, slightly sour, which is fusible and distils 

 over like an oil, fixes on cooling, and is crystalline. It is solu- 

 ble in alcohol and ether. 



SECTION II. 



PRODUCTS OF THE FERMENTATION OF SUGAR. 

 ETHYL SERIES OF COMPOUNDS. 



Ethyl, C 4 H 5 =E, a hypothetical radical, existing in ether and 

 its compounds ; ether being the oxide of ethyl, and alcohol the 

 hydrated oxide of ethyl. Ethyl has not been isolated. 



HYDRATED OXIDE OF ETHYL, OR ALCOHOL. 



Its formula is C 4 H 5 O + HO=EO + HO. Alcohol can be 

 obtained only in one way, namely by the fermentation of sugar, 

 and perhaps immediately from grape or starch sugar only. 

 This fermentation is determined by the addition of yeast to a 

 solution of sugar kept between 70 and 80, when a new dis- 

 tribution of the elements of the latter takes place, so as to form 

 alcohol and carbonic acid ; one atom of starch sugar C 12 H 12 O 12 

 being converted into two atoms of alcohol 2 (C 4 H 5 O -f- HO), 

 and four atoms of carbonic acid 4CO 2 . 



Two atoms of alcohol . . . C 8 H 12 O 4 

 Four atoms of carbonic acid . C 4 O 8 



One atom of starch sugar . C 12 H 12 O 12 



The juices of all plants which naturally contain sugar, possess, 

 likewise, a substance which by exposure to air, becomes a fer- 

 ment and converts their sugar into alcohol and carbonic acid. 

 Hence all saccharine vegetable juices, such as that of the grape, 

 of sugar-cane, and of beet-root, run quickly into fermentation 

 after expression. 



Alcohol is obtained by distillation from all liquids which have 

 undergone the vinous fermentation, but diluted with a large 



