ALCOHOL, SPIRIT OF WOOD, AND ETHERS. 
45 
ether only. The chloride of arsenic does not yield ether. 
By the action of heat the compounds of fluoride of boron 
yield at 140° an ethereal compound which distils over ; before 
reaching 140°, a part of the alcohol vaporises without altera- 
tion. The product in the retort in succession is changed into 
an ethereal compound, yielding ether by mixture with water. 
Operating with perchloride of tin, the residue in the retort, 
after the disengagement of part of the ether, yields alcohol con- 
stantly by contact with water. This difference may be attributed 
to the great volatility of the ethereal compound of the perchlo- 
ride of tin, on which account it escapes in vapor as soon as 
formed, which does not happen with the compound of ether 
and fluoride of boron, this vaporising only at 140°. The flu- 
oride of silicon does not convert alcohol into ether. 
3. After the etherification of alcohol by the metallic chlo- 
rides and fluorides, I examined the action of agents upon the 
spirit of wood at an elevated temperature. I have already 
stated that spirit of wood forms alcoholic compounds. The 
action of heat upon those compounds where the spirit of wood 
plays the electro-positive part, presents great analogy with 
that which it exercises on the alcoholic compounds. When, 
in a mixture of spirit of wood and etherifying chloride, the 
spirit of wood predominates, it forms, as in alcohol, two spe- 
cies of ether : one a peculiar methylic ether, which condenses 
at 0° and remains liquid at ordinary temperatures, and a me- 
thyl-hydrochloric ether which condenses only at very low 
temperatures. When the chlorides are in great excess, the 
latter ether only is produced. The temperatures at which 
etherification of spirit of wood takes place are generally less 
elevated than those suitable for alcohol. They are generally 
from 125° to 150°. The proportion most favorable to produce 
etherification by perchloride of tin appears to be 2 atoms 
spirit and 1 perchloride. The reaction of etherifying chlorides 
upon spirit of wood presents this remarkable difference with 
that produced with alcohol, that the mixture with spirit of 
wood always becomes reddish-brown, and on the addition of 
water deposits a resinous matter, which does not happen with 
