352 Mr. A. Williamson's Theory of JEtherification. 



In this experiment the two theories cross one another, and 

 must lead to different results; for it is evident that, in the 

 first-mentioned decomposition by which aether was formed, 

 the only difficulty in explaining the process decisively consisted 

 in our inability to prove that the carburetted hydrogen intro- 

 duced instead of the hydrogen did not have in the product an 

 atom of oxygen to itself, but that, on the contrary, it was 

 coupled with the carburetted hydrogen already contained in 

 the alcohol — the two in combination with one atom of oxygen. 

 It is clear that if alcohol contain aether and water, and the 

 carburetted hydrogen in my first experiment formed a second 

 atom of aether by taking the place of the hydrogen of this 

 water, that the process being the same in the second experi- 

 ment, we should then have obtained two aethers. Whereas if 

 the formation of aether from alcohol be effected by synthesis, 

 a new carburetted hydrogen being added to the one already 

 contained in the alcohol, we ought to obtain the new interme- 

 diate sether which I obtained. 



The complete description of this remarkable body, and of 

 its decompositions, will form the subject of a future paper. I 

 will now merely state that its boiling-point is a little above 

 10° Cent. ; it is possessed of a very peculiar smell, distinctly 

 different from that of common aether; and, like that body, it 

 is only slightly soluble in water. It is not acted upon by the 

 alkali-metals at the common atmospheric temperature. 



By acting upon the potassium-alcohol in like manner by 

 iodide of amyle, I effected a similar substitution of the ele- 

 ments of that carburetted hydrogen in the place of the hy- 

 drogen of alcohol, and obtained an aether boiling at 111° C, 

 having the composition C 7 H 16 O. There is some reason to 

 believe that this body is the same which Balard obtained by 

 decomposition of chloride of amyle by an alcoholic solution 

 of hydrated potash, and which that distinguished chemist took 

 for oxide of amyle. 



From the perfect analogy of properties between the known 

 terms of the alcoholic series, it was to be expected that similar 

 substitutions might be effected in the others; and I have ve- 

 rified this by experiment. Of course the formulae of the other 

 alcohols must be reduced to half, for the same reasons as that 

 of common alcohol. Methylic alcohol is therefore expressed 



C H 3 C 2 H 5 



by the formula „ O, as common alcohol is tt O; and 



C 5 H U 



in the same manner amylic alcohol is „ O, and the same 



of the higher ones. In conformity to this fact, we must be 

 able to obtain the same intermediate aethers by replacing hy- 

 drogen in these alcohols (methylic and amylic) by the carbu- 



