69 
Copper . 
mable. It does not redden litmus. Excepting that it is 
miscible, in any proportion, with water, it has all the qua- 
lities of ether, and like that fluid has the power of decoiru 
posing the nitromuriate of gold. M. M. Derosne have 
proposed for it the name of pyro-cicetic ether. Its pro- 
duction, they observe, is confined to the latter stages in 
the distillation of acetate of copper, and is owing, they 
suppose, not to any modification of alcohol, but to chang- 
es in the arrangement of the elements of the salt. 
These observations are confirmed by the subsequent 
ones of M. Mollerat. Examining two portions of acetic 
acid, which had precisely the same specific gravity (viz. 
1063), he found that the one contained 8 7 per cent, of real 
acid, and the other only 41. The first he is disposed to 
consider as the strongest acetic acid that can be procured. 
It may be distilled at a very moderate heat with great ra- 
pidity, and without entering into ebullition. To this acid, 
having the specific gravity 1063 (and of which 100 grains 
required for saturation 250 of sub- carbonate of soda), he 
gradually added water, and found, though water is lighter 
than the acid, yet that the density of the mixture increas- 
ed till it became 1079. From this point, the additions of 
water occasioned a regular diminution of specific gravity. 
Mr. Chenevix has since observed the same anomally, in 
the acid produced from acetate of silver. 
Acetic acid, thus prepared, has several remarkable pro- 
perties. Its smell is extremely pungent, and it raises a 
blister when applied to the skin for a sufficient length of 
time. When heated in a silver spoon over a lamp, its va- 
pour may be set on fire. At the temperature of about 
38o Fahrenheit it becomes solid and shoots into beautiful 
crystals, which again liquefy at 40°. It appears not to 
be easily destructible by heat ; for Mr. Chenevix trans- 
mitted it five times through a red-hot porcelain tube, with 
the effect q£ only a partial decomposition.” 
2 Hen . CL 220, 
