Chemical method, notation, classification, & nomenclature / by Auguste Laurent ; translated by William Odling.

  • Laurent, Auguste, 1807-1853.
Date:
1855
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Chemical method, notation, classification, & nomenclature / by Auguste Laurent ; translated by William Odling. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    the diamcroncs, I dissever the very natural ties which unite the former with the latter bodies. I do not pretend to justify this separation; quite the contrary. There is here a trifling apparent difficulty, which will require our attention for a minute or so. We have said, that an ether is a compound which, under the influence of water, can regenerate the acid and the alcohol from which it was produced. Let us write down several formula} of this regeneration. 1°. C2H5N03 + IPO = II NO3 + CPPO 2°. C2H5C1 + IPO = H Cl + C2H°0 3°. C2Hr,S + IPO = IPS + C2IPO 4°. C2IPO + IPS = IPO + C2IPS 5°. CTPO + IPO = IPO + CTFO No objection can be made as regards the first three equations; the third contains the term C2H(iS, which satisfies our definition. The fourth is the inverse of the third; it is true, that in this case we suppose that C2H60 is decomposed, not by the agency of oxygen-water but under that of sulphuretted-water, which comes to the same thing. But as the terms C2H60 and IPO correspond to the terms C2H6S and IPS, we may indifferently make use of the former or of the latter, and may consequently propose the fifth equation. But this seems to be absurd, for it indicates that alcohol being an ether, may, in common with other ethers, decompose water and regenerate on the one hand the alcohol, and on the other hand the water from which it was produced. This absurdity arises from the meaning we attach to our defi- nition of the ethers. Considered from a certain point of view, the general formula of the ethers is applicable to alcohol; considered from another point of view, with reference to the actual decom- position by water or alkalies, it becomes absurd. But instead of taking alcohol as the term of comparison, we might select sulph- alcohol, or even chlorhydric ether. In this last case we should say, that an ether is a body which, under the influence of chlorhydric acid, dedoubles itself, and gives origin to chlorhydric ether, and to the acid from which it was produced: then chlorhydric ether, which serves as the term of comparison, would be excluded from the class of ethers, whilst alcohol would enter therein. It is the same with the majority of definitions of this description, where the body, which serves as the term of comparison, is excluded, in appearance at least, from the class to which it belongs. A\ e might define the sulphates by saying, that they are salts which give a