554 
NOTE  ON  COMMERCIAL  CHLORIC  ETHER. 
the  name  of  Chloric  Ether,  consisting  wholly  or  chiefly  of 
chloroform  and  alcohol,  which,  when  mixed  with  water,  does  not 
separate.  On  inquiring  of  Mr.  William  Weightman  (  of  Powers 
&  Weightman )  what  the  article  prepared  by  them  under  this 
name  was,  he  stated  that  their  firm  had  prepared  it  as  they  sold 
it  for  more  than  twenty-five  years,  since  soon  after  Mr.  Guthrie's 
discovery  of  chloroform,  which  he  called  Chloric  Ether.  The 
preparation  sold  by  them  is  obtained  by  distilling  together 
chloride  of  lime,  alcohol  and  water,  in  the  proportion  of  8  lbs. 
av.  of  chloride  of  lime,  to  a  gallon  of  alcohol,  and  a  suitable 
quantity  of  water,  and  distilling  a  gallon  of  the  "  Chloric  Ether." 
As  chloride  of  lime,  on  the  average,  yields  from  6  to  8  per-cent 
of  chloroform,  it  is  fair  to  infer  that  this  preparation  does  not 
contain  more  than  8  per-cent  of  that  substance.  It  has  the  fol- 
lowing properties  :  It  is  colorless,  has  an  agreeable  weak  odor 
of  chloroform,  a  sweet  spicy  taste  of  chloroform  with  a  cooling 
after  impression  somewhat  like  that  of  peppermint.  Its  specific 
gravity  is  •892.  When  mixed  with  water  in  the  proportion  of  1 
to  20  it  is  at  first  cloudy,  and  almost  instantly  becomes  clear, 
with  but  little  if  any  separation  of  chloroform.  It  is  this  latter 
property  that  has  caused  it  to  be  preferred  by  some  practitioners. 
That  the  proportion  of  chloroform  in  this  preparation  varies 
is  quite  certain,  as  Mr.  Weightman  states  that  it  is  not  always 
of  such  composition  as  to  mix  with  water  without  precipitation. 
It  is  quite  inflammable,  and  burns  with  a  yellowish  flame,  tinged 
with  bluish  green.  When  two  fluid  drachms  of  chloroform  and 
fifteen  fluid  drachms  of  alcohol,  (95  per  cent.)  are  mixed,  the 
mixture  has  a  specific  gravity  approximating  closely  to  that  of 
the  above  "  Chloric  Ether."  Such  a  mixture  contains  about  16 
per  cent,  of  chloroform,  and  when  added  to  water  is  instantly 
precipitated.  Whether  the  specific  gravity  of  the  commercial 
article  is  due  partly  to  water,  or  whether  the  chloroform  is  so 
intimately  combined  with  the  alcohol  in  the  process  of  making, 
as  to  render  the  mixture  stable  in  the  presence  of  water,  has  not 
been  determined,  but  there  is  a  marked  difference  in  the  be- 
haviour of  the  liquids  with  an  excess  of  water. 
