182 Scientific Intelligence. 



Ether and fuming hydrochloric acid by fifteen hours, contact at 100° 

 C form hydrochloric ether. 



2. Direct formation of the compound ethers by means of alcohol and 

 acids. 



By heating in sealed tubes at a temperature of 250° C, alcohol and the 

 fatty acids, combination readily takes place. In this manner the following 

 compounds have been obtained. 



Methylpalmitic ether, a crystalline compound fusible at 28° C, and 

 solidifying at 22° C. 



Ethylpalmitic ether, fusible at 21 5° C, and solidifying at 18° C. 



Amylpalmitic ether, a waxy substance fusible at 9°. 



The combination of alcohol with the fatty acids is never complete, 

 either for the alcohol or the acid ; but the formation of these three ethers 

 is most abundant in the presence of excess of acid. 



At 100" C. after thirty hours contact, benzoic, acetic, and butyric ethers 

 are produced in great abundance. Stearic ether is produced in small 

 quantity in about 102 hours ; but the action is complete in this period 

 when acetic acid is present. 



3. Decomposition of ethers by the action of water and acids. 



The formation of the compound ethers is never complete : this is owing 

 to the decomposing action exercised upon them by the water set at liberty 

 during the reaction. The presence of acids increases the intensity of this 

 action upon the ether 3. 



Water heated to 100° C. during 102 hours with stearic and oleic ethers, 

 begins to decompose them with the regeneration of stearic and oleic acids ; 

 but under the same conditions does not act upon benzoic ether. 



"Water at 240° C, after some hours' contact begins to acidify benzoic 

 ether ; but the decomposition is feeble. Acetic ether, however, undergoes 

 considerable decomposition at this temperature. 



Acetic acid, diluted with two or three times its volume of water, by 

 contact for 106 hours at 100° C, acidifies in a great degree stearic, butyric, 

 and benzoic ethers, without producing any acetic ether. 



Benzoic acid at 240° C, assists the decomposition of acetic ether, but 

 only traces of benzoic ether, are formed, the greater part of this acid 

 remaining free. 



The acid which produces the decomposition may also enter into com- 

 bination with the alcohol. The phenomenon is then nothing more than 

 a simple replacement of one acid by another. The action of benzoic acid 

 upon acetic ether is of this kind ; with fuming hydrochloric acid the action 

 is more marked ; in 106 hours at 100° C. it produces decomposition with 

 acetic, butyric, benzoic, and stearic ethers, setting these acids at liberty 

 and forming hydrochloric ether. 



Constitution of the Amides. — The researches of Gerhardt and Chiozza 

 on the secondary and tertiary amides have led them to suppose that these 

 substances are formed on the type of ammonia, in which one, two, or 

 three equivalents of hydrogen are replaced by compound ^radicals. Wurtz 

 takes a different view of their constitution, and supposes them to be 

 formed like the acids on the type of water. Adopting the commonly re- 

 ceived equivalents, acetic acid may be represented according to Gerhardt's 

 view by the formula 



H/ U2 

 Acetamide is formed from it, according to Wurtz, by the elimination 

 of the two equivalents of oxygen which are placed externally to the group 

 in combination with two equivalents of hydrogen, and the residue NH. 

 come in their place. The different amides of acetic acid in this view would 

 be represented in the following manner. 



