acid was saturated
mained white, pungent, and odorous,quite liquid at a common temperature. Whenlong agitated with liquid potash it graduallywas absorbed without the disengagement ofany gas, and appeared to be resolved intoalcohol and benzoic acid, but no muriatic, andyet it cannot be formed Jjy the direct distillationof benzoic acid and alcohol, without the inter-vention of the muriatic acid.
The citric, oxalic, and malic acids, distilledwith alcohol and a little sulphuric acid, all gave-a peculiar substance somewhat resembling thatfrom the benzoic acid.
Acetic Ether. 20 parts of acetic acid con-gealable at 32°. F. were distilled once with 30parts of alcohol of .800 sp. gr. It requiredmuch heat to bring the mixture to boiling, andonly a very little acetic ether was produced.
The same experiment was repeated with theaddition of 5 parts of strong sulphuric acid:19 parts of the acetic acid disappeared, theether was produced with singular ease andalmost without heat, and as much as 40 partswere obtained: this appears to be a very simpleand excellent process, and the ether may berectified easily by a little potash even withouta second distillation.
Acetic ether may also be made very well byScheele’s method, (Chem. Diet . art. Ether.)The following are given by M. Thenard asgood proportions : 3 parts of acetate of potash,3 parts of strong alcohol, and 2 parts of con-centrated sulphuric acid, distilled to dryness.The product again slowly distilled with a fifthof its weight of fresh sulphuric acid, will giveas much rectified acetic ether as the alcoholemployed. The sulphuric, acid should be al-ways concentrated. Any other neutral acetitewill answer the same purpose, and the dose ofsulphuric acid should be somewhat more thanwill saturate the base of the acetite. Theneutral acetites distilled per se yield a peculiarsubstance called Pyro-Acetic. Spirit, alreadydescribed in the article Acetic Acid in thisappendix. M. Thenard infers as a generallaw, from these and other experiments, thatwhen the vegetable acids are pure, none ofthem, except the acetic, will combine withalcohol in such a wav as to lose their acidproperties; but when a" mineral, acid capable ofstrongly condensing alcohol is added, all thesevegetable acids acquire the property of unitingwith alcohol into a peculiar compound whichshews no acidity till the compound is again
decomposed by heat or alkalies, and whichdoes not contain any of the mineral acid neces-sary to its formation.
Alcohol—hots produced from fermentedliquors.
In our original article (Fermentation, tol. 1.p. 43 U we mentioned that a question hasarisen whether alcohol exists ready formed infermented liquors, or whether it is a productgenerated from them by the act of distillation.Mr. Brande has given some experiments onthis subject in which he favours the formeropinion. 11 Fabbroni who advanced the latterof these two opinions, asserts that though drycarbonat of potash will not separate any alcoholfrom wine in its natural state, yet if as little asa hundredth part of alcohol is purposely addedto wine, this addition will be made apparentby mixing dry subcarbonate of potash to thewine. Mr. Brande however did not find thisto be the case with the wines which he em-ployed ; for when 4 oz. of the dry alkali were-added to 8 oz. of port wine, both pure, andmixed with ^ of alcohol, no separation of spirittook place in either instance, but the mixturein both cases divided itself into two portions,,the lower of which was a saturated solution ofthe alkali, and the upper was a gelatinous masscontaining apparently all the colour and extractof the wine, uniformly and undistinguishablymixed with the spirit. Nevertheless as it wasfound that very exactly the same proportion ®falcohol was yielded by pure wine, when dis-tilled at different temperatures, (the boilingpoint being raised artificially in some of theexperiments by adding muriat of lime) theauthor conceives that this is a sufficient proofthat the alcohol is not formed but mereTyexpelled from the wine by distillation, since ifit had been actually formed in the process, Iigsupposes that a change in the boiling tem-perature must have influenced the product ofalcohol in one way or other.
A much more satisfactory proof of thisopinion with regard to the formation- of alcoholis however furnished by the same chemist inhis last paper, in which he first precipitates allthe extractive and colouring matter from winebv the subacetate of lead, and then tlie additionof the alkali separates the alcohol from thewine thus clarified in a very distinct manner.One measure of a saturated- solution of the saltof lead added to 8 measures of port wine, andshaken for a few minutes and thrown on afilter, gave a perfectly clear and colourless
k Phil. Trans, for 1811 & 1SI3