ACTION OF ETHER ON GALLS. 
45 
sesses less color than when common ether is used. We may 
here take advantage of the greater affinity of the brown color- 
ing matter for alcohol to procure a purer product. On adding 
this liquid to the etherial solution, it takes the brown matter 
from the water and still retains it on the addition of more of 
this liquid, the lower layer separating free from all color. 
The etherial compound appears also under the circumstances 
to be decomposed, for the solution does not, as in the other 
instances, become milky, and the colorless fluid separated by 
repose, is not oleaginous. Should this additional alcohol be 
mixed with the ether previous to its action on the galls, then 
more of the yellow coloring matter would be dissolved by 
the alcohol than could subsequently be retained, and some 
would pass to the aqueous solution and render the product 
impure. 
