0"N THE COMPOSITION OF ALCOHOL. 



265 



alcohol. Besides it will be shown by more direct observa- 

 tions, perfectly free from objection, that alcohol contains 

 this element. 



This result is of importance to the theory of fermenta- 

 tion. 



Mr. Thenard had remarked*, that the nitrogen, which is ^^ote -? 

 an essential part of yeast, disappears in the vinous fermen- sential part of 

 tation. This element was not then found among the pro- y^^^^' 

 ducts of this process, but we shall see, that it enters into the 

 alcohol. 



The ammonia contained in the liquid formed by the com- The ammonia 

 hustion of alcohol appears to me neutralized by acetic acid, neutralized by 

 I have poured a few drops of potash into two ounces of this ^*^^ **^ ^^^ ' 

 water. The alkali, which was in excess, was saturated by 

 carbonic acid, and slightly dried in the open air. I washed 

 the whole with alcohol, and th© decanted liquor afforded by 

 evaporation a very deliquescent salt, which had all the other 

 properties of acetate of potash, and weighed ]i grain. 



All the trials I have just mentioned of the water obtained The vyate* 

 from perfect alcohol, repeated with water obtained from ^"'^ ^^^^ 

 spirit of wine rectified without muriate of lime, gave the 1,(^1 contained 

 same results. They showed, that it contained ammonia, ammonia, ace- 

 acetic acid, and lime, and probably a little potash : but all amr?,'robayy' 

 these substances were in such small quantity, that they i)otash, but in 

 could not have much influence on the proportions of oxigen, n"i^porfa?Ke. 

 hidrogen, and carbon, assigned to alcohol by my last analy- 

 sis, sect. Ill, where I considered the fluid formed by burn- 

 ing it as pure water. 



•Sect. V. Analysis of alcohol hy means of a redhot tube of 

 porcelain. 

 Several chemists have noticed with more or less accuracy Analysis of al- 

 the nature of the principal products afforded by alcohol in «^ohol by pass- 

 passing through a tube of porcelain heated red hot. They redhoT°'Sce^ 

 have observed water, oxicarburetted hidrogen gas, and car- lain tube. 

 bon ; and lastly Mr. Vauquelin mentions a crystallized vo- 

 latile oilf : but they have not obtained from these products 



* Essay on Vinous Fermentation by Thenard : Annales de Chimie vol. 

 XLIX, p, 294: or our Journal, vol. VII, p. 33. 



+ Fourcroy's Chemistry, vol. VIII, p. 155: or English edition, p. 207. 



a deter- 



