234 VINEGAR, CIDER, AND FRUIT-WINES. 



Wood-Spirit (Methyl Alcohol), CH 4 O. 



Wood-spirit is a colorless, very mobile liquid, of specific gravity 

 0.798 when chemically pure, and with a boiling point varying 

 between 150 and 160 F. The specific gravity of its vapor is 

 1.12. It is soluble in all proportions in water, ether, and alcohol 

 and is a solvent for resins and gums, especially when it contains 

 a small proportion of acetone. With calcium chloride and with 

 anhydrous barium it combines with cry stall! zable bodies, which 

 are, however, immediately decomposed by water. Potassium and 

 sodium dissolve in wood-spirit with the evolution of hydrogen. 

 On cooling the compounds CH 3 ,OK, or CH 3 ,OXa crystallize 

 out which are decomposed by water, wood-spirit and caustic alkali 

 being formed. 



Pure wood-spirit does not become turbid on being mixed with 

 water ; in the crude article turbidity is however caused by the 

 presence of various hydrocarbons. 



Wood-spirit is chiefly used for the preparation of methyl iodide 

 and methyl nitrate, both these combinations being employed in 

 the fabrication of aniline colors. It is further used for the 

 manufacture of varnishes, for laboratory lamps, etc., and, in 

 certain cases, in medicine. 



Acetone or Dimethyl Kctone (C 3 H 6 O). 



Acetone is formed when the vapor of acetic acid is passed 

 through a red-hot tube, and further by the destructive distillation 

 of sugar, tartaric, lactic and citric acids, etc. The best method, 

 however, to obtain it in large quantities will be given later on in 

 describing the acetates (see barium acetate). 



Acetone is a very mobile, colorless liquid, boiling at 132.8 F., 

 and having a peculiarly strong but pleasant odor; its specific 

 gravity is 0.814. It burns with a brilliant flame and is soluble 

 in all proportions in water, alcohol, and ether; it is a solvent for 

 fats, resins, camphor, and gun-cotton, and yields crystallizable 

 combinations with the hyposulphites ; it does not, however, com- 

 bine with calcium chloride. The combinations with the alkaline 

 hyposulphites, for instance sodium hyposulphite, are insoluble in 



