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peculiar properties. Should the oxygenized muriatic be the acid 

 which is employed from the first, an oily matter is generally the 

 result of the distillation : and if the acid be employed in a large 

 proportion, a white, opaque greasy substance, of the consistence of 

 half-melted tallow, will be focmed. 



To enable you to judge of the propriety of considering the change 

 thus produced as analogous with the bituminization of vegetable 

 matter, I will briefly state the more generally received opinions, 

 respecting the circumstances on which this conversion of alcohol 

 into ether depends. Laudet and Dabit found, that the addition of 

 oxygen was necessary to the formation of ether ; and they disco- 

 vered, that by employing the oxide of manganese with the sul- 

 phuric acid, this acid was not decomposed, as would otherwise 

 have been the case ; but, that the oxide was deprived of a part of 

 its oxygen, and a greater quantity of ether than usual was obtained; 

 no gas coming over, and no charcoal being deposited during the 

 distillation. They therefore concluded, that ether contained a 

 smaller pioportion of hydrogen, and a greater proportion ot oxygen 

 and carbon, than alcohol. Fourcroy and Vauquelin, on the other 

 hand, supposed ether to contain a greater proportion of hydrogen 

 and oxygen, and a smaller proportion of carbon, than alcohol. 

 Thus differing in their opinion as to the proportion of the respective 

 principles ; but agreeing, that ether is a substance formed by a new 

 combination of the same principles of which alcohol is composed, 

 but in different proportions *.. 



* May not the formation of ether be still better understood by adverting to one im- 

 portant fact, that the solution of carbon in hydrogen is promoted by the presence of 

 oxygen, as is the case in carburetted hydrogen gas ? May not, therefore, the addition 

 of the acid or the oxide to the alcohol, by furnishing an increased proportion of oxy- 

 gen, enable the hydrogen to retain more of the carbon in solution, and thus produce 

 an approximation to an oleous state ? In confirmation of this opinion, it is to be consi 

 dered that, by the addition of merely oxygenized muriatic gas to carburetted hydrogen 



