259 
ON  SWEET  SPIRIT  OP  ^IITRE. 
purification,  and  afterwards  to  be  mixed  with  its  proper  propor- 
tion of  rectified  spirit.  But  that  purification  does  not  give  a 
chemically  pure  A-eO-KN03;  it  also  contains  aldehyde.  The 
product  by  the  formulce  of  all  the  Colleges  is  then  alike  in  this 
- — they  all  contain  AeO+NOo.  alcohol,  and  aldehyde,  or  the 
hydrated  oxide  of  acetyle  (C4  H3  O-f  HO). 
Pure  hyponitrous  ether — or,  in  chemical  language,  the  hy- 
ponitrite  of  the  oxide  of  ethyle  (C4  H5  0  +  NOy),  would  require 
to  be. somewhat  better  known  than  it  is. 
Liebig  as  quoted  in  Turner,  gives  its  density  at  £0°  as  947  and  boiling  point  62s 
Prof.  Cbristison,  that  prepared  by  the 
Edinburgh  process    "  "       899  "  70° 
Meissner,  as  quoted  by  Prof.  Ghristison    ■"  11       909       no  boiling  point 
The  late  Dr.  Pereira  .   "         40°      886       boiling  point  70° 
Dumas   "  "       886       no  boiling  point 
Regnault  ......   "    No  temp.  886       boiling  point  69°.S 
He  also  says  that  "  pure  nitrous  ether  is  colorless  ;"  of  this 
we  have  met  with  no  specimen. 
Mitscherlich  gives  it  also  as  "color- 
less" density  at  40°  as  886  and  boiling  point  80° 
The  Dublin  Pharm   "       60°       900       no  boiling  point 
The  late  Prof.  Duncan,  of  Edinburgh, 
states  that   when   simply  washed 
with  HO,  its   "    No  temp.  912       no  boiling  point 
And  after  removing  acid  by  KO  ......    <(  "       896  u 
And  when  re-distilled   "  "       &C6  " 
We  have  thrice  prepared  it  by  Leibig's 
method,  and  the  product  was    "       60°       900       boil,  point  62° — 64° 
It  is  quite  manifest  that  the  densities  and  boiling  points  giver, 
cannot  belong  to  one  and  the  same  fluid  ;  nor  can  it  be  seen 
how  the  admixture  of  aldehyde  of  D.  790  at  65°  and  boiling  a : 
70°  can  reconcile  them.  May  it  not  be  that  AeO-fN05  is 
formed,  in  some  cases,  as  well  as  AeO-j-N03  ?  Both  its  33. 
(1.112)  and  B.  p.  (185°)  are  high. 
We  have  very  often  prepared  the  AeO-f-^03  of  the  Edin- 
burgh Ph.,  and  have  frequently  been  unable  to  bring  up  the  D. 
to  899  by  solution  of  Ca-j-Cl  or  washing.  Weak  solution  of 
ammonia,  however,  we  find  to  answer  the  purpose,  and  we  are  no 
longer  annoyed  by  a  density  ranging  from  886  upwards  ;  from 
899 — 900  is  now  easily  arrived  at. 
It  may  be  instructive  to  state  the  result  of  the  re-distillation 
of  the  product  got  by  Leibig's  method.  When  procured,  its 
boiling  point  was  62 — 61,  and  D.  900  at  60°.  On  re-distilling 
it,  one-half  had  come  over,  and  the  thermometer  stood  at  66° ; 
