The American Journal of Science and Arts Author:Joseph LeConte Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: Art. IV.—On the Perchlorate of the Oxide of Ethule, or Perchloric Ether; by Clark Hare and Martin H. Boye. Read before the American Philosophical Society, Dec... more ». 4, 1840. The energetic properties of perchloric acid, and its stability, compared with the other compounds of chlorine with oxygen, led us to the belief that this acid might be combined with the substance which performs the part of a base in that class of organic salts which are generally designated by the name of ethers, and for which Berzelius, in consequence of his theoretical views, has adopted the name of oxide of ethule. For this purpose a concentrated solution of perchlorate and sulphovinate of barytes, in equivalent proportions, was subjected to distillation. The sulphovinate of barytes may be considered as a double sulphate of barytes and the oxide of ethule ; and we anticipated that, when heat was applied, a double decomposition would take place between the latter and the perchlorate of barytes. So long as the salts remained in solution, no reaction occurred, but as soon as they became solid in consequence of the distillation of the water, a reciprocal decomposition ensued, and a sweet ethereal liquid distilled into the receiver. This liquid is the perchlorata of the oxide of ethule. As this substance is extremely explosive, it is necessary in order to prepare it with safety, to operate on small quantities. We have employed from seventy to ninety grains of crystallized sulphovinate of barytes, with an equivalent proportion of perchlorate of barytes ; but we would recommend, especially on the first performance of the experiment, the employment of considerably smaller quantities. The salts should be intimately mixed in a mortar, and placed in a small retort attached to a refrigerator containing ice, and a r...« less