292 SELECTED ARTICLES. 
ing the results of one experiment. I added one killogramme 
of fused acetate of potassa, to four pounds of alcohol, of 86°, 
and distilled slowly; so soon as the acetate was dissolved, on 
dividing the product, I obtained successively, alcohol of 92.5°, 
93°, 93.5°, 93.5°, 93.5°, 93.5°, 93.5°, 93.5°, 93°, 93°, 93°, 93°, 
93°, 93°, 93°, 93°, 92.75°, 92.75°, 92.50°, 92°, 90.5°, 72°, 43°. 
All the products when mixed, yielded an alcohol of 93°. 
The use of quick-lime as an agent in rectification, has given 
the most advantageous results; it separates surprisingly the 
water from the alcohol, but it will be seen that it is far from 
sustaining all which it at first promised. I will begin by exhi- 
biting three results, which show the action which alcohol and 
quick-lime, exercise upon each other. 
1, On passing absolute alcohol upon quick-lime, heated to 
the temperature of 220 degrees, the alcohol underwent no 
change; the lime did not retain even a trace of it. 
2d. If absolute alcohol be left with hydrate of lime, 
(Ca,Aq,) for several days, and the hydrate be then dried at 
the temperature of 35° or 40°, it does not retain the smallest 
quantity of alcohol. 
3d. If absolute alcohol, be distilled with slacked lime (pure 
hydrate Ca,Aq,) the alcohol carries off a part of the water of 
the hydrate. In one experiment, 0.5 pound of absolute alco- 
hol, distilled on a salt water bath, after forty-eight hours of 
contact with 324 grammes of hydrate of lime, furnished 0.49 
pound at 93.6. 
In the rectification of alcohol by lime, it is always neces- 
sary to leave the two bodies in contact for one or two days, as 
it is only by degrees that the alcohol yields its water to the 
lime. The heat of a stove of 35° to 40° is very favorable. 
One pound of alcohol of 93 was left for two days upon 220 
grammes of quick-lime in powder; at the end of that time a 
small quantity of the alcohol, on being filtered, marked 95.8°. 
It was then distilled from the lime, and furnished 0.75 pound 
of alcohol, of 95.8°. The alcohol had, therefore, lost water, 
and the lime had retained water and alcohol. 
A pound of alcohol, of 91°, was left in contact with 500 
