<DN THE COMPOSITION OF ALCOHOL. gQQ 



I ought to remove one objection, that will no doubt be The alcohol 

 made against the kind of alcohol I analysed, it having been "eafnn^W 

 twice rectified from muriate of lime. Some chemists have muriate of 

 asserted, that spirit of wine rectified from this salt acquires * 

 properties, by which it approximates to an ether. For this 

 purpose I examined whether spirit of wine rectified by sim- 

 ple distillation, and without addition, wovild furnish by com- 

 bustion results similar to those of my former analysis, with 

 the exception of a quantity of water corresponding to that 

 indicated by the difference of specific gravities. 



I rectified common spirit of wine by three successive dis- Theexperi- 



tillations, without adding muriate of lime, and takina: only "'.^!!* repeated 

 , ^ 1 n 1 1- .11 .• r.^1 T . ^. . ^ with alcohol at 



the first product ot each distillation. 1 hus 1 reduced it to -8248 rectified 



the specific gravity of 0*8248, at 15° of R. [66° F.]. The *'°"^ 

 process was conducted as in the former experiment. The 

 gas in which the lamp was placed, the barometer at 27 

 inches, and the thermometer at 15'5® [67° F.], occupied the 

 space of 638 cubic inches, 204 of which were oxigen gas, 

 and 434 nitrogen. By the combustion of 33 grains of spi- 

 rit of wine this was reduced to 598 cubic inches, consist- 

 ing of 



Carbonic acid gas 62*79 



Oxigen gas 99*12 



Nitrogen gas 436*09 



598. 



From these results we find, that 100 parts of spirit of 

 wine, of the specific gravity of 0*8248, contain 



Carbon 32*24 Proportion.. 



Hidrogen 8*23 



Oxigen and hidrogen, in the 



proportions that form water 59*53 



100. 



Richter's table indicates, that 100 parts of spirit of wine xhjs^ allowing 

 of the density of 0*825 contain 12*8 parts of water. If from for the water in 

 these results therefore we would deduce the composition of agrees^witVthe 

 perfect alcohol, we must substitute 59*53 — 12'8=:46*73 for former experi- 

 59.53 in the preceding analysis. This will reduce the parts ™*"'' 



repre- 



