Ether : a brief account of its manufacture, chemical composition, congealing properties, etc. etc. / by Martin Henry Payne.

  • Payne, Martin Henry.
Date:
1866
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Ether : a brief account of its manufacture, chemical composition, congealing properties, etc. etc. / by Martin Henry Payne. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    alcohol, while only a trace of ether is formed ; if, on the con- trary, it boils at a temperature varying from 260° to 310°, the liquid suffers decomposition into sulphuric acid, water, and ether, with only a trace of alcohol; but if by the addition of a large quantity of acid, the liquid is made to boil at 320°, or above, the production of ether stops, and a number of empy- reumatic products are formed, amongst which are olefiant gas (or heavy carburetted hydrogen), C2H4, and heavy oil of wine, CgHig0,2S03. Thus, we find that the required temperature for the produc- tion of ether is from 260° to 310° Fahr,, and that the tempera- ture of the boiling-point of the liquid depends upon the pro- portion in which the acid and spirit are mixed. Nor will this surprise us when we consider that sulphuric acid boils at 620° Fahr., -while the boiling-point of alcohol is only 173°. Chemists have now determined that the nearer the tem- perature is kept to 280° the purer the product will be; but were an ordinary distilling apparatus to be alone used, the temperature on commencing the operation would be far too low, and, as it proceeded, the ether distilling, and the liquid becoming more and more concentrated, the tempera- ture would rise considerably above the standard. It was to obviate this inconvenience that the compensation arrange- ment was introduced, and is now universally adopted. There are many varieties of ether, for the action of nearly every acid on alcohol yields a different kind; thus, we have nitrous and nitric ether, oxalic ether, hydriodic ether, &c. &c. These are called compound ethers, and may be compared either to an oxysalt, consisting of the oxide of ethyl (i. e. ether) and an oxygen acid, e. g.— ^4^10^ + ^2^3= C4Hjq0,N205+ II2O ; or forms a haloid salt, with a hydrogen acid, e. g.— 2HI -i- C4H10O = C4H10I2 + H2O. They may generally be made by the direct action of the acid, but no compound ether has as yet been produced from ethyl. (3.) The ether more especially under our consideratmn used to be called sulphuric, from the acid with which it is made, and may still be procured under that name; but among chemists the term has been superseded for that of vinous, or—par excellences^—Fther. It is very combus- tible, burning with a yellowish-white flame, and generating water and carbonic acid, from its carbon and hydrogen com- bining with the oxygen of the air. Its vapour is very heavy, having a density of 2*586; this, mixed in certain proportions with oxygen or atmospheric air, forms an explosive compound, and from an unfortunate ignorance of this fact many serious