OBSERVATIONS ON ETHERIFICATION. 
269 
sulphate of soda, which were formed in an aqueous solution, and 
without an excess of acid, had still a sensible but much inferior 
etherizing power. 
Expt. 4. — A mixture was made of oil of vitriol with a still 
larger proportion of alcohol, namely, one volume of the former 
and eight of the latter, or nearly one equivalent of acid to four 
equivalents of alcohol. This mixture was sealed up in a tube, 
and heated for an hour between 284° and 317° (140° and 158° C.) 
which appeared sufficient for etherizing it. A second exposure 
for another hour to the same temperature did not sensibly increase 
the ether product. The column of ether measured 1.25 in the 
tube, and the acid fluid below 2.5 inches. Both fluids were per- 
fectly colorless. 
It thus appears to be unnecessary to exceed the temperature of 
317° (158° C.) in this mode of etherizing, and that the proportion 
of alcohol may be increased to eight times the volume of the oil 
of vitriol without disadvantage. 
Expt. 5. — The proportions of the first experiment were again 
used, namely, one volume of oil of vitriol with four volumes of 
alcohol, and the mixture heated as in the last experiment to 
317° (158° C.) The upper fluid, or ether, measured 1.1 inch in 
the tube, the lower fluid 2.65 inches. The latter had a slight 
yellow tint, like nitrous ether, but only just perceptible. It gave, 
when neutralized by chalk, — 
Sulphate of lime, - - - - 83.11 grains 
Sulphovinate of lime - - - 4.91 " 
The last salt was soluble in alcohol, and crystallized in thin 
plates. 
Here again the formation of sulphovinic acid in a successful 
etherizing process is quite insignificant. 
New results at 317°, from the other proportions of one volume 
of oil of vitriol with one and two volumes of alcohol, were quite 
similar to those obtained in experiments 2 and 8, at the higher 
temperature of 352°. In none of these experiments did there ap- 
pear to be any formation of olefiant gas, and the tubes could al- 
ways be opened, when cool, without danger. 
Neither glacial phosphoric acid nor crystallized biphhosphate of 
soda etherized alcohol to the slightest degree, when heated with 
