MMiscellanies. 163 
have been often reported. We refer, particularly, to the spontaneous 
combustion of fibrous vegetable stuffs, flax or linen, hemp and cotton, 
when imbued with oils, grease or tallow, and more especially with the 
drying oils; they become gradually heated, and, if in contact with 
the atmosphere, they are sometimes inflamed. ‘The danger is sup- 
posed to be augmented when the drying oils are mixed with the me- 
tallic oxides, which are used as paints; the oxygen in them may aid 
in producing the combustion. The caution which ought to be oh- 
served is obvious: the fibres of the cotton, in the present instance 
having been more or less charged with grease or animal oil, were 
brought to a burning state by the gradual heat of the stove, which, 
at the distance of two feet and upon the floor, was probably not 
intense. ' 
If, as we have been told, cotton is sometimes used as the basis ae 
oil cloths, the latter ought not to be exposed to much heat, and it 
might be well not to lay them in great heaps in the ware houses, as 
even the heat of summer, or in winter of air warmed by stoves, might 
possibly cause a combustion.—Ed. 
4. Preparation of chloric ether: A. A. Hayes.—In reply to the 
question respecting the preparation of chloric ether, in the last num- 
ber of this Journal, I will describe the method which was sometime 
since adopted, for furnishing the preparation in considerable quantity. 
From marketable bleaching powder, such was selected as was least 
bulky, and the quantity of chlorine, per cent., ascertained by analy- 
sis. A weighed quantity was placed in a retort, and alcohol of sp. 
gr. .850, equal to the weight of the chlorine contained in the powder, 
was added. By agitating the mass and allowing it to remain a few 
minutes, a mixture tolerably uniform was obtained. ‘The receiver, 
containing a quantity of water, was then loosely connected with the 
retort, in such a manner as to allow the beak of the retort to dip two 
or three inches into the water, and was refrigerated by a bath of snow 
and water. Heat was applied to the retort by means of a water bath, 
and when a part of the mixture had become heated to 150° F. dis- 
tillation commenced; the water bath was then removed, the action of 
the materials being sufficiently energetic to maintain the temperature 
for some time: the water bath being subsequently applied, the opera- 
tion was discontinued when ether ceased to be condensed. ‘The fluids 
in the receiver consisted of a quantity of ether equal to one twelfth 
part of the weight of the alcohol used,a diluted spiritous solution of the 
