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Some experiments have been made with thesame view as those above mentioned, by M.Boullay. d The muriatic ether was preparedin the following way. Muriatic acid gas, dis-engaged from dried common s;dt and sulphuricacid, was passed through 1000. parts of purealcohol by a suitable apparatus, and 680 partsof the acid gas were absorbed, during whichthe temperature (at first 50°. F.) was raised to75°. F. The alcohol thus saturated with mu-riatic acid gas was colourless, of an oily con-sistence, of 1.134 sp. gr. smoking when ex-posed to air, miscible with water, but with thedisengagement of heat and bubbles of air smel-ling strongly of ether. This muriated alcoholwas distilled separately, and the products re-ceived first into an empty bottle, kept at thetemperature of 14°. to 17°. F. by muriat oflime and snow, and beyond this, into water.The distillation from the retort took place atabout 86°. and most of the etherized gas con-densed in the empty bottle into a liquid, whichafter washing with potash appeared to be pureunmade ether.

M. Thenard states in a note (Mem. Arcueil ,tom. 1. page 154) his surprize at learning thathis experiments on the production of muriaticether by muriatic acid and alcohol alone, whichhe considered as nearly original, had beenanticipated by Basse, a chemist of Hameln,who prepared the ether by sulphuric acid,alcohol, and common salt, and by Gehlen whohad repeated Basse’s experiment. It appearshowever that Scheele discovered most of theremarkable properties of this ether, and pointedout its gasseous form, its peculiar sensiblequalities, its giving no indication of acidity bylitmus or nitrat of silver before combustion,but abundantly afterwards.

Muriatic ether is also made (as mentioned inthe Chem. Dicty.) by distilling some of themetallic muriats or butters with alcohol, aprocess described by Scheele , Rouelle andCourtanvaux. This was repeated by Thenardwith a little variation. A mixture was madein a retort of 7 parts of highly rectified alcoholand 12 parts of muriat of tin. A tubulatedlong-necked matrass was connected with theretort, and a Woulfe’s apparatus was annexed.The matrass was empty and kept cool, theother bottles were full of water. On mixingthe materials, a hissing noise like the quenchingof hot iron in cold water was heard, and a verygreat heat was excited. The distillation wascontinued at a boiling heat till nearly all the

alcohol was driven over. No gas whateverwas generated. In the retort was left a hardyellow muriat of tin ; the matrass containedtwo strata of liquids, the lower, which was insmall quantity was a solution of muriat of tin ;and the upper was a thick liquid stronglyetherial and alcoholic, with a sharp metallictaste, reddening litmus, and depositing oxyd oftin on saturation with alkali. This liquid wasdiluted with water and redistilled, and theproducts were alcohol, etherized gas and muriatof tin. The etherized gas on further exami-nation was nearly, if not absolutely, identicalwith the gasseous muriatic ether obtained bythe former processes.

M. Thenard in a subsequent memoir giveshis experiments on the ultimate analysis ofmuriatic ether, though confessedly imperfect.An essential part of this inquiry was to discoverthe proportion of muriatic acid, or its elements,combined in the ether. For this purpose agiven quantity of muriatic acid and alcoholwere put into a retort and distilled, with properprecautions to collect all the products, liquidand gasseous, and these were afterwards sepa-rately examined. The quantity of muriaticacid entering into the composition of the etherwas estimated by comparing the quantity ofpotash required to saturate the acid in theretort before and after the distillation, all theloss of acid from the retort being supposedto enter into the composition of the ether.From these data it would appear that muriaticether contains full 30 per cent, of its weight ofmuriatic acid of an equal degree of concentra-tion as exists in fused muriat of potash.

Action of Oxjmuriatic Acid upon Alcohol.

The mutual action of these two suhstanceswas first examined by Scheele , and afterwardsby Berthollet , Pelletier, and other chemists.They have noticed the production of a greenoil in the process, and of a quantity of ether.M. Thenard in repeating this experiment em-ployed 300 parts of alcohol, and passed throughit the oxymuriatic gas arising from 1750 partsof common salt, 450 of black oxyd of man-ganese, and 800 parts of sulphuric acid dilutedwith as much water. The gas was first washedby transmission through water, and then sentinto the alcohol, and the whole was absorbed.The liquor contained a greenish-white oil, anda great excess of muriatic acid. On rec-tification with alkali no ether was obtained,but only an alcoholic liquor holding more of

11 An. Cliim. tom. GS.

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