obtained in a state of approximate purity, could not be farther — 
urified by repeated distillations, but on the contrary, when dis- — 
tilled by itself, the limits of temperature within which it passed — 
ame wider with each operation. We suppose this circum- _ 
stance to arise from a decomposition of the body by heat, and 
our supposition was verified by the result of an experimen 
where we heated a portion of this product, which had distilled 
at 230°-242°, during twenty-four hours, at 220°-250° C., in a 
sealed tube, and found that the decomposition had advanced so 
far that oxalate of ethyl (boiling at 180°), and oxalate of amyl © 
(boiling at 260°), could be obtained from it. We shall publish — 
the details of experiments with the ethers of a quadribasic acid — 
in a paper on silicic ethers. 4 
It appears from the experiment with the mixed oxalate of 
38 C. Friedel and J. M. Crafts 
ethyl and benzoate of amyl formed were isolated and analyzed. i | 
Acetate of ethyl, boiling point about 74°: - 
Th ; 
C. =. 55°84 - - Bab 4 
H = 10°09 - - - 909 
Benzoate of amyl, boiling point about 250°: 
Theory. 
i. 22. 74°06 - - 75:00 
H= 814 - . - . $33 
Common ether and amylic ether were heated seventy- | 3 
at 200°-250° wie’ formation of a mixed ater. — 
€ presence of water in the products employed woul 
taken away entirely from the value of the. preceding aon 
