276 Sulphurous Ether and Sulphate of Etherine. 



To the hydrocarbon of Hennel (4 CH,) as the common base of 

 all the ethers, excepting those lately alleged to have mytheline for 

 a base; the name of etherine has been given; so that the heavy 

 oil of wine may be called the sulphate of etherine : or, according to 

 the formula of Serullas, 2SE + H, it is a hydrous sulphate of ethe- 

 rine. It is, in fact, the only compound to which the name of sul:- 

 phuric ether can be applied with propriety. The yellow liquid out 

 of which it is procured, as above stated, may be designated as the 

 ethereal sulphurous sulphate of etherine. 



Another oil, lighter than water, resulting from the distillation of 

 the ethereal sulphurous sulphate of etherine, from hydrate of lime, 

 or from potash, is described by Berzelius as oil of wine exempt from 

 sulphuric acid. Of this the odor is represented as disagreeable ; 

 and, though nothing is said of its taste, it is to be presumed that it 

 differs from the heavy oil of wine in this respect, as well as in its 

 odor and specific gravity. 



Thenard alleges, that when the heavy oil of wine is heated with 

 water for some time, a liquid swims on the water, which, if refrige- 

 rated by ice, will, within twenty-four hours, deposit crystals. The 

 mother liquid he calls light oil of wine, while to the crystals he gives 

 the name of concrete oil of wine. Hennel mentions his having ob- 

 tained a similar product by the reaction of oil of wine with water, or 

 an aqueous solution of potash ; and treats the crystalline matter as 

 the base of the heavy oil of wine, deprived of its acid ; or, in other 

 words, as his " hydrocarbon ;" or, as above mentioned, etherine. 



Considering how much has been written on this topic, I am sur- 

 prised that I have met with no statements respecting the reaction of 

 ammonia with the above mentioned ethereal sulphurous sulphate of 

 etherine. 



Since the year 1818, I have been accustomed to saturate the acid 

 in that liquid by ammonia. The residue, being rendered very fra- 

 grant, and entirely freed from its sulphurous odor, by admixture with 

 about twenty-four parts of alcohol, was found to constitute an ano- 

 dyne, possessing eminently all the efficacy of that so long distin- 

 guished by the name of Hoffmann. When the residue, remaining 

 after saturation with ammonia, was distilled in a water bath, ether 

 came over, and left an oil which I was accustomed to consider as 

 the oil of wine. 



I had observed that in the process above mentioned, there was a 

 striking evolution of vapor, which seemed irreconcilable with the 



