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perties. Should the oxygenized muriatic be the acid which is em- 
ployed from the first, an oily matter is generally the result of the 
distillation: and if the acid be employed in a large proportion, a 
white, opaque greasy substance, of the consistence of half-melted 
tallow, will be formed. 
To enable you to judge of the propriety of considering the change 
thus produced as analagous with the bituminization of vegetable 
matter, I will briefly state the more generally received opinions 
respecting the circumstances on which this conversion of alcohol 
into ether depends. Laudet and Dabit found, that the addition of 
oxygen was necessary to the formation of ether; and they disco- 
vered, that by employing the oxide of manganese with the sul- 
phuric acid, this acid was not decomposed, as would otherwise 
have been the case ; but, that the oxide was deprived of a part of 
its oxygen, and a greater quantity of ether than usual was obtained ; 
no gas coming over, and no charcoal being deposited during the 
distillation. They therefore concluded, that ether contained a 
smaller proportion of hydrogen, and a greater proportion of oxygen 
and carbon, than alcohol. Fourcroy and Vauquelin, on the other 
hand, supposed ether to contain a greater proportion of hydrogen 
and oxygen, and a smaller proportion of carbon, than alcohol. 
Thus differing in their opinion as to the proportion of the respective 
principles ; but agreeing, that ether is a substance formed by a new 
combination of the same principles of which alcohol is composed, 
but in different proportions^. 
* May not the formation of ether be still better understood by adverting to one im- 
portant fact, that the solution of carbon in hydrogen is promoted by the presence of oxygen, as 
is the case in carburetted hydrogen gas ? May not, therefore, the addition of the acid or the 
oxide to the alcohol, by furnishing an increased proportion of oxygen, enable the hydrogen to 
retain more of the carbon in solution, and thus produce an approximation to an oleous state ? 
In confirmation of this opinion, it is to be considered that, by the addition of merely oxygenized 
muriatic gas to carburetted hydrogen gas, an oily fluid is formed ; and that by the employment 
of the same acid, in a more powerful manner, an actual tallow-like grease is produced. Another 
