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LV. On the mutual Action of Sulphuric Acid and Alcohol, 

 with Observations on the Composition and, Properties of the 

 resulting Compound. By Mr. Henry Hennell, Chemical 

 Operator at Apothecaries' Hall.* 



HPHE following experiments were originally undertaken with 

 -*- the view of ascertaining the nature of that singular pro- 

 duct of the distillation of sulphuric acid and alcohol, which 

 has long been known in the pharmaceutical laboratory under 

 the name of oil of wine, and which has generally been regarded 

 by chemists as a modification of sulphuric aether. The results 

 however of my inquiries have led me to very different con- 

 clusions, and induce me to regard it as a hitherto undescribed 

 compound of sulphuric acid and carbon and hydrogen ; the lat- 

 ter elements existing in the same proportions as in defiant gas, 

 and exerting a peculiar saturating power in respect to the 

 acid. I have also ascertained that hydrocarbon, with an ad- 

 ditional proportion of sulphuric acid, affords a compound 

 which is capable of uniting with salifiable bases, and of form- 

 ing a distinct series of products. 



Of Oil of Wine. 



As I originally considered the elements of oil of wine to be 

 the same as those of aether, I endeavoured to ascertain their 

 relative proportions by passing its vapour over red hot oxide 

 of copper in a glass tube, in the apparatus contrived for such 

 decompositions by Dr. Prout and Mr. Cooper, (Trans. Soc. 

 Arts, xli. p. 56). In these experiments I always obtained, 

 along with the other products, a considerable proportion of 

 sulphurous acid, and afterwards upon washing the contents of 

 the tube with water upon a filter, it was of a blueish tint, and 

 held sulphate of copper in solution ; a result which I could 

 not readily account for, as every precaution had been taken 

 to free the oil of wine which I used from all adhering sul- 

 phurous and sulphuric acid. 



I now added a few drops of the same oil of wine to a solu- 

 tion of muriate of baryta and gently heated the mixture, when 

 not the slightest cloudiness was produced, although litmus 

 paper indicated the existence of a free acid ; but upon evapo- 

 rating the mixture a precipitate fell, when it became concen- 

 trated, and on boiling it to dryness, a considerable quantity of 

 sulphate of baryta was found in the residue : it became evi- 

 dent therefore that the sulphuric acid was in some state of 

 combination which prevented its usual action upon tests, or 



* From the Philosophical Transactions, 1826, Part III. 



that 



