ON INDIGESTION. 



m. 



smell and taste of which resembled those of distilled vinegar, 



and which had ail the properties of an acid. The only 



aeriform product was a little carbonic acid, which was very and earbonic 



distinguishable by the rapidity with which the bubbles rose ^^id. 



through the water, when it was once saturated, as well as by 



their magnitude. 



5. Though the smell and taste of the product of the The acid satu» 

 distillation already gave me strong proofs of the existence rated with 



of acetous acid, I thought it necessary, to have farther con- ^°'^** 

 lirmation. I therefore took some soda purified by means 

 of alcohol, and added it to the whole of the liquor to super- 

 saturation. I then filtered, and evaporated to a proper de- 

 gree for obtaining crystals of acetate of soda. 1 put the 

 porcelain vessel, that contained the saline liquor, in a cool 

 place; and the next day, to my great satisfaction, I found, 

 that the form of the crystals, which were stilated prisms 

 much resembling very small crystals of sulphate of soda, was 

 precisely that of acetate of soda. Their taste too was bit- 

 ter, pungent, and giving an acrid taste at the beginning, 

 which afterward finished with being alkaline; in short they 

 were in every respect similar to acetate of soda prepared di- 

 rectly from its component parts. 



6. Still fearing, that these experiments might not be The salt dis- 

 sufficiently demonstrative, I was desirous of satisfying my- ^^ ^^ * 

 self still farther. I therefore took half an ounce of the sa-> 



line substance I had obtained, and dissolved it in six ounces 



of distilled water. This solution I divided into two equal divided into 



portions: into one T poured gradually very fine sulphuric ^^^l^®"^*^"^* 



acrd, but not sufficient to decompose it entirely; and into 



the other my solutions of barytes. The first portion, o^edecompps- 



which had been decomposed by sulphuric acid from its acid and dis- 



greater affinity with soda, was put into a small retort, to tilleda 



which 1 adopted a receiver, and distilled with a gentle heat, r 



The product in, the receiver was acetous acid, perfectly 



pure, and with a very fragrant smell, in fact having all the 



characters of that acid. Into the second I. poured a solu- }^^^ ^^"^^-^ ^■f 



1 • 1 • I basytes. 



tion of barytes, till the soda was set free: and mto the phial 



containing the solution of soda and acetate of barytes I 



poured a sufficient quantity of alcohol to dissolve the soda, 



and precipitate the acetate of barytes. Thus 1 was com- 



pletdy 



