Cooley's Cyclopaedia of Practical Receipts Volume I Part 20

gr. 0800 (about A.D. 1760); and Richter afterwards procured it of a sp.

gr. so low as 0796 at 60 Fahr. (Crell's 'Annals,' 1796.) Lavoisier first demonstrated the composition of alcohol (about 1780). Its a.n.a.lysis was subsequently perfected by M. Saussure, jun., and confirmed by MM. Dumas and Boullay, and Gay-Lussac; and by many others since.

_Nat. Hist._ Alcohol is peculiar to the organic kingdom, being exclusively produced, in the natural way, by the process of fermentation.

_Sources, &c._ Dilute alcohol may be procured, by the ordinary process of distillation, from all fermented liquors. When drawn from wine (as in France), it const.i.tutes BRANDY; when from the refuse juice of the sugar-cane, it is called RUM; when from malt, grain, or mola.s.ses (as in England), it is called MALT, RAW-GRAIN or MOLa.s.sES SPIRIT; and when from rice or palm-wine, ARRACK. Brandy, rum, Hollands, and whisky, contain only about half their volume of alcohol; and gin much less. When distilled from any of these spirituous liquors, the alcohol contains, besides water, variable quant.i.ties of essential oils, ethers, and other flavouring matters, which, by one or more redistillations with charcoal or lime, it for the most part loses, and then becomes commercial spirit of wine. By a further rectification from chloride of calcium, lime, carbonate of potash, or any other substance having a strong affinity for water, the water is retained, and a strong spirit pa.s.ses over containing not more than 10 per cent. of water. By repeating the process, and using the proper precautions, it may be obtained almost entirely free from water, and is then called absolute or anhydrous alcohol.

_Preparation I._ Of _Absolute Alcohol_:--

_a._ Alcohol (highly rectified spirit), of 85% (sp. gr. 835 to 822), is mixed, in a tubulated retort, with about half its weight of fresh-burnt quick-lime, in coa.r.s.e powder; and the whole, after securely stopping the neck with a cork, and agitation, is allowed to repose for several days.

The alcohol is then carefully distilled off, drop by drop, by the heat of a water bath, until the weight of the distillate nearly equals that of the 'anhydrous alcohol' in the spirit operated on. The sp. gr. of the product should be 795 or 796; but by carefully repeating the process with the distillate and a fresh quant.i.ty of lime, and prolonging the last digestion with the latter for several weeks, absolute alcohol of the sp. gr. 79381 at 60 Fahr. may be easily obtained.

_b._ (Drinkwater; Fownes.) The strongest rectified spirit of wine is digested in a stoppered bottle for several days, with about half its weight of anhydrous carbonate of potash, in powder, frequent agitation being had recourse to; the alcohol, after repose, is then decanted, and treated with sufficient fresh-burnt quick-lime to absorb the whole of the spirit. After 48 hours' digestion, the spirit, when distilled, will have the sp. gr. 793 at 60 Fahr.

_c._ (Liebig; Ure.) Alcohol of about 90% is saturated with fused chloride of calcium, in powder, and after repose for a few hours in a stoppered bottle, is submitted to distillation as before. The product should nearly equal the quant.i.ty of dry alcohol in the sample. Ure recommends equal weights of the spirit and chloride to be taken; and the process to be stopped as soon as about half the volume of the spirit employed has pa.s.sed over, or the distillate acquires a higher sp. gr. than 791 at 68, or 796 at 60 Fahr.

_d._ (B. P. 1867.) Take of rectified spirit, 1 pint; carbonate of potash, 1-1/2 ounce; slaked lime, 10 ounces. Put the carbonate of potash and spirit into a stoppered bottle and allow them to remain in contact for two days, frequently shaking the bottle. Expose the slaked lime to a red heat in a covered crucible for half an hour, then remove it from the fire, and, when it has cooled, immediately put the lime into a flask or retort, and add to it the spirit from which the denser aqueous solution of carbonate of potash, which will have formed a distinct stratum at the bottom of the bottle, has been carefully and completely separated. Attach a condenser to the apparatus, and allow it to remain without any external application of heat for twenty-four hours; then applying a gentle heat, let the spirit distil until that which has pa.s.sed over shall measure 1-1/2 fluid ounce; reject this, and continue the distillation into a fresh receiver until nothing more pa.s.ses at a temperature of 200 Fahr.

_e._ (Poggendorff.) Saturate alcohol with caustic potash, then add half its volume of water, and distil at a low temperature.

II. Of _Hydrated_ or _Commercial Alcohol_:--

_a._ (ALCOHOL, Ph. L. 1836.) Take of rectified spirit (sp. gr. 0838), 1 gal.; chloride of calcium, 1 lb.; proceed as above, and distil 7 pints and 5 fl. oz. Sp. gr. of product 0815. It contains about 7% of water, by weight, and 5% by volume.

_b._ (ALCOHOL, Ph. D. 1826.) Rectified spirit, 1 gal.; pearl-ashes (dried and still hot), 3-1/2 lbs.; mix, digest in a covered vessel, with frequent agitation, for seven days; then decant the clear portion, and add to it of chloride of calcium, 1 lb.; agitate to effect solution, and distil off the spirit until the mixture in the retort begins to thicken. Sp. gr. of product 0810. It contains about 5% of water, by weight.

_c._ (Without distillation.) Rectified spirit is agitated, in a closed vessel, with anhydrous carbonate of potash (prepared by heating the salt to redness, and still slightly warm), until the powder sinks to the bottom undissolved; the carbonate is then added in considerable excess, and the agitation repeated at short intervals for some hours or even days; lastly, after sufficient repose, the clear upper portion is decanted.--_Obs._ If a clean spirit, and pure carbonate of potash (or at least one perfectly free from caustic potash or any other impurity soluble in strong spirit), be used, an alcohol sufficiently pure and free from water for many common purposes may be thus obtained; otherwise the product contains a little pota.s.sa, &c., which can only be removed by distillation. For some purposes, however, this would not be objectionable. Sp. gr. about 812.

[Ill.u.s.tration:

_A_, A bottle with two necks, the upper furnished with a ground-gla.s.s stopper.

_B_, Loop of cord to hang the apparatus up by.

_C_, Bladder, containing spirit, filled by means of the bottle _A_.

_D_, Neck of bladder accurately secured to the under neck of the bottle _A_.]

III. (Soemmering.--VARNISH-MAKER'S ALCOHOL.) The bladder of an ox or calf, thoroughly cleansed from fat, and washed and dried, is nearly filled with rectified spirit, and then securely fastened and suspended in any dry situation, at a temperature of about 122 Fahr. In from six to twelve hours, when the heat is properly maintained, the spirit is generally sufficiently concentrated, and in a little time longer is rendered nearly free from water (anhydrous), or of the strength of 96 to 98%.--_Obs._ The same bladder will serve for more than one hundred operations. If not kept very nearly full, a portion of the spirit escapes through the empty part.

To prevent this accident, a bottle with a double neck, of the shape represented in the _engr._, may be employed; by which means the bladder may be kept constantly full during the process. After the first or second time of using, the bladder gives alcohol sufficiently pure for all ordinary purposes. Before hanging the apparatus up, it is better to enclose it in a coa.r.s.e potato-netting, to prevent any accident arising from the strain on the neck of the bladder. Soemmering recommends both the inside and outside of the dry bladder to be smeared over 2 or 3 times with a strong solution of isingla.s.s; but this is not necessary to the success of the process.

IV. _Rectified Spirit._ (B. P. 1867.) _Spiritus Rectificatus._ Alcohol with 16 per cent. of water; obtained by the distilling of fermented saccharine fluids. Sp. gr. 0838.

V. _Proof Spirit._ (B. P. 1867.) _Spiritus Tenuior._ Take of rectified spirit, 5 pints; distilled water, 3 pints. Mix. Sp. gr. of product 0920.

_Prop. of Alcohol._ Light, transparent, colourless; highly volatile and inflammable, burning with a pale blue and smokeless flame; very mobile; odour, agreeable; taste, strong and pungent; miscible in all proportions with water, with the evolution of heat, and temporary expansion, but ultimate condensation of the mixture, some hours elapsing before the union is complete, and the normal temperature restored. The mixture has a higher sp. gr. than the mean of its const.i.tuents; and this is greatest when 54 vols. of alcohol are mixed with 4977 vols. of water, the resulting compound measuring only 100 volumes. It absorbs water from moist air; dissolves resins, essential oils, camphor, bitumen, soaps, sugar, carbonic and boracic acid, iodine and the iodides, lime, ammonia, soda, potash, the alkaloids, wax and spermaceti (when boiling), all the deliquescent salts (except carbonate of pota.s.sa), and various other substances. It curdles milk, coagulates alb.u.men, and (in quant.i.ty) separates both starch and gum from their mucilages. It boils, in the air, at 173 Fahr., when in the anhydrous state. When diluted with water its boiling point rises in proportion to the amount of water added. It boils, in vacuo, at 56 Fahr.

Every volume of boiling alcohol yields 4883 vols. of vapour at 212 Fahr.

Its sp. gr. is 0793811 at 60 Fahr., that of its vapour being 16133. It has never been frozen; when cooled to -166 Fahr., it acquired the consistence of castor oil, but did not solidify. It contracts by cold; between -15 and +99 Fahr., this occurs with great regularity, at the rate of 00047 part of its volume for every degree of the thermometer. Its evaporation, like that of ether, produces intense cold. The products of its combustion are carbonic anhydride and water. It acts as a powerful antiseptic on organic substances immersed in it, and is in consequence extensively employed in the preservation of anatomical preparations. With the acids it forms ethers.

_Phys. eff._ Alcohol is a narcotico-acrid poison. In small doses it occasions excitement and intoxication; in larger ones, delirium, somnolency, coma, apoplexy, and death. It acts as a violent nervous stimulant, and, by abstracting water from the soft tissues of the stomach and primae viae, destroys their organisation. It is alike poisonous to all animals;--2 drs. will kill a dog. All strong spirits act in the same way, the effect being proportionate to the state of concentration and the quant.i.ty taken. On plants it acts as a rapid and fatal poison.

_Ant., &c._ Copious internal use of tepid water, with cold affusions to the head and spine, and injection of cold water into the ears. In the absence of vomiting, a strong emetic should be given, or the stomach-pump used. Ammonia may be used as a stimulant, and, added to water just in sufficient quant.i.ty to flavour it, is one of the best antidotes. The head should be kept elevated, and bleeding had recourse to, if cerebral congestion threatens.

_Tests in cases of death._ 1. The odour of the contents of the stomach and ejected matters, and their ready inflammability. 2. The spirit may be separated by digestion with water, filtration, the addition of carbonate of potash, and distillation.

_Comp., &c._ Its per-centage composition is--

Dumas and Brande and Ure. sp.

Boullay. Ure. gr. 0812.

Carbon 5237 5218 4785 Hydrogen 1301 1304 1224 Oxygen 3461 3478 3991 ------- -------- -------- 9999 10000 10000

This nearly represents 2 equivalents of carbon, 3 eq. of hydrogen, and 1 of oxygen. The atom of alcohol is now regarded as a multiple of these numbers, and formed by the breaking up of one atom of grape sugar (C_{13}H_{28}O_{11}) into 4 eq. of alcohol, 8 eq. of carbonic acid, and 4 eq. of water. It was formerly regarded as a compound of 1 eq. of olefiant gas, and 1 eq. of water; but it is now generally viewed as HYDRATE OF THE OXIDE OF ETHYLE (C_{2}H_{5}.HO), or a compound of ethylene and water (C_{2}H_{4}.H_{2}O). Grape sugar alone yields alcohol; cane sugar, before it undergoes the vinous fermentation, being first converted into this substance by contact with the ferment.

_Purity._ The presence of water is shown by the specific gravity (see ALCOHOLOMETRY); the absence of other foreign matter by the following tests:--

1. Its colour and transparency is not affected by the addition of a little colourless oil of vitriol (Liebig), or by a solution of nitrate of silver, and subsequent exposure for some time to solar light (Vogel), unless either essential oil or organic matter be present, when it a.s.sumes a reddish tinge. 2. It should be neutral to test-papers, colourless, leave no residue on evaporation, and be miscible, in all proportions, with water and with ether. 3. Its boiling point should never be less than 170 Fahr.; a lower temperature suggests the presence of wood spirits, or acetone, or one of the ethers. To detect wood spirit (wood naphtha) see Nessler's Test. For the reverse of this adulteration--the evasion of the duty by the introduction of spirit, under the disguise of naphtha, turpentine, &c.--see those articles.

4. The presence of water in alcohol may be detected, not only by the sp.

gr., but also by white anhydrous sulphate of copper burning blue when dropped into it. 5. Pota.s.sium placed on alcohol does not take fire, unless a considerable per-centage of water be present.

_Tests, &c._ 1. It may generally be recognised by its volatility, inflammability, odour, taste, miscibility with water, power of dissolving camphor and resins, and other qualities already described. 2. If a few fibres of asbestos be 'moistened' with a saturated solution of b.i.+.c.hromate of potash in oil of vitriol, and exposed to the smallest possible portion of hot alcohol vapour, it is almost instantly turned green, owing to the formation of oxide of chromium. In practice, the asbestos may be inserted in the neck of a retort, or even of a bulbed gla.s.s-tube containing a few drops of the suspected solution, when the effect occurs as soon as distillation commences. Ether and pyroxylic spirit produce a nearly similar result; but the 'first' of these is distinguished from alcohol by its not being miscible with water in all proportions; and the 'other' by Nessler's Test; whilst both may be readily distinguished by their peculiar and characteristic odour. 3. Dissolve 3 pts. crystallised carbonate of soda in 10 pts. water. To this solution add 1 pt. of liquid to be tested, and heat to about 160 Fahr. Lastly, add iodine in small pieces, till it has entirely dissolved, and the liquid has become colourless. If alcohol be present, iodoform will make its appearance on cooling, and sink to the bottom in the form of a yellow powder. As a similar result is obtained with wood spirit, this must be proved to be absent before applying this test.

The only reliable method of proving that a sample is ethylic alcohol is the production of ether, by acting on the suspected liquid with sulphuric acid. See ETHER.

_Uses._ In the _arts_, alcohol is used by the varnish-maker to dissolve resins; by the perfumer, to extract the odour of plants, and dissolve essential oils, soaps, and other similar substances; by the pharmaceutist, to prepare tinctures and other valuable medicinals; by the instrument-maker, to fill the bulbs of thermometers required to measure extreme degrees of cold; by the photographer, in the preparation of collodion; by the chemist, in a.n.a.lysis, and in the manufacture of numerous preparations; by the anatomist and naturalist, as an antiseptic; and by the physician, for various purposes and applications as a remedy. It is also frequently burnt in lamps, and in parts of the world where it is inexpensive, it is employed in the manufacture of vinegar. Its uses, when dilute, as in the 'spirituous liquors' of commerce, are well known. In medicine, it is employed both concentrated ('alcohol,' 'rectified spirit') and dilute ('proof spirit,' 'brandy,' 'gin,' &c.), as a caustic, irritant, stimulant, tonic, &c. It has also been used in a mult.i.tude of other cases, and has been applied to an almost infinite variety of other purposes.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

_Gen. commentary._ The selection of any one of the processes given above for the preparation of alcohol must greatly depend on the convenience or position of the operator. Chloride of calcium, and quick-lime, from their powerful affinity for water, and easy application, are the hygrometric substances most generally employed; but the processes involving the use of the other substances and methods already noticed, have all of them advantages under particular circ.u.mstances. Gay-Lussac has recommended the use of caustic baryta instead of lime; and others have employed dry alumina, as an absorbent of the water prior to distillation. Common proof spirit may be concentrated until its sp. gr. falls to about 0825, by simple distillation in a water bath; at which sp. gr. it contains only about 11% of water, by weight, and is then nearly as volatile as pure alcohol.

A convenient apparatus for the preparation of alcohol, on the small scale, is that figured in the _engr._, and which will be self-explanatory to every one competent to use it. The tank (_i_) should be supplied with ice-cold water; and the receiver (_g_) should be covered with cloths kept continually wet with water of the same temperature. The capsule or basin (_c_) is a water bath heated by the little gas furnace (_d_). On the large scale, for commercial alcohol, a copper still, fitted with a gla.s.s refrigeratory and receiver, is commonly employed.

By surrounding the capital of a still, or other like apparatus, by a water bath kept at the proper temperature, the alcoholic richness or content of the product may be regulated to the greatest nicety, for any desired strength.

The different statements of chemical authors as to the boiling point, specific gravity, &c., of alcohol, already noticed, may be referred to their having either experimented with samples which have not been absolutely anhydrous, or to their not having made the proper corrections for temperature, and for the different materials of which their vessels and instruments were composed--some probably having been made of gla.s.s, and others of bra.s.s or some other metal. In some instances the differences are more apparent than real, as in the _Tables_ by Tralles and Lowitz; in the former of which water, at its lowest sp. gr., is taken as the standard. Until recently, the only known source of alcohol was the fermentation of saccharine solutions. Its production by synthesis, though often attempted, is, however, erroneously said to have always failed. It had long been employed as an occasional source of bicarburetted hydrogen (olefiant gas) at a high temperature; but M. Berthelot succeeded in reproducing it, from bicarburetted hydrogen, by agitating the latter, in a closed vessel, with sulphuric acid and metallic mercury ('Journ. de Chimie Med.,' 1855, p. 175); and Henry Flennel, nearly thirty years before M.

Berthelot's discovery, found that pure olefiant gas is absorbed by agitation with concentrated sulphuric acid, with the formation of sulphovinic acid, and that by subsequent dilution with water, and distillation, alcohol pa.s.ses over into the receiver.

=ALCOHOLATE.= _Syn._ ALCOHATE; ALCOHOLAS, L. A salt in which alcohol appears to replace the water of crystallisation, as is the case with certain chlorides, nitrates, &c. Some of them may be formed by simple solution and crystallisation of the salt in alcohol. (Graham.) They are all very unstable, being readily decomposed by water.

=ALCOHOLIC.= _Syn._ ALCOHOLICUS, L.; ALCOHOLIQUE, &c., Fr.; ALKOHOLISCH, Ger. Pertaining to, containing, of the nature of, or made with, alcohol.

=ALCOHOLICA.= [L.] _Syn._ ALCOoLIQUES, Fr.; WEINGEIST-VERBINDUNGEN, Ger.

In _pharmacy_, liquids containing, or preparations made with, alcohol, as a characteristic ingredient.

=ALCOHOLISATION.= [Eng., Fr.] _Syn._ ALCOHOLISATIO, L.; ALCOoLISATION, &c., Fr.; ALKOHOLISERUNG, Ger. In _chem._ and _pharm._, the development of the characteristic properties of alcohol in a liquid, or the use of it either as an addition or a menstruum; also the act or process of obtaining alcohol from spirit by rectification.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

=ALCOHOLOM'ETER= (-lom'-). _Syn._ ALCOHOL'METER (hol'-; -hom'-); ALCOHOLOMeTRUM, L.; ALCOoLOMeTRE, ALCOoMeTRE, ALCOHOLMeTRE, &c., Fr. An instrument or apparatus used in alcoholometry. Alcoholometers are simply 'hydrometers' adapted to the densities of alcohol, either concentrated or dilute. Some of these, as BAUMe'S, CARTER'S, &c., merely indicate the number of degrees corresponding to the state of concentration of the liquid. Others, of a like construction, as those of RICHTER (_a_), TRALLES (_b_), and GAY-LUSSAC (_c_), have their stems so graduated as at once to indicate the proportion per cent. of alcohol present, either by weight, or by volume, at some standard temperature. (See _engr._) A third cla.s.s, as those of the Abbe BROSSARD-VIDAL, FIELD, &c. are essentially thermometers, with scales which indicate the boiling points of spirits of different strengths, instead of the common thermometric degrees; whilst to a fourth cla.s.s belong the alcoholometer of M. SILBERMANN, which is based upon the known rate of expansion of alcoholic liquors by heat, expressed in alcoholometric degrees; and that of M. GEISSLER, which depends on the measurement of the tension of the vapour of the liquid, as indicated by the height to which it raises a small column of mercury. In SYKE'S HYDROMETER, used by officers of the Revenue, the scale of the instrument is enormously extended by the use of movable weights, with each of which it becomes, in fact, a separate instrument, adapted to a certain range of specific gravities.

A very convenient alcoholometer for ordinary purposes (_d_) has been lately produced by some of the instrument makers. It is of the usual form, but its stem on one side exhibits the per-centage richness of the sample in alcohol by volume; and on the other, the per-centage by weight. Thus, both results may be obtained at one trial. This instrument is sometimes called RICHTER'S ALCOHOLOMETER, in England. A further improvement, still more recently introduced, is a similar 'double-scale' instrument, showing the degrees of Sykes on one side, and carrying a small spirit-thermometer in the bulb, to which a scale is fixed ranging from 35 to 82 Fahr.

=ALCOHOLOM'ETRY.= _Syn._ ALCOHOL'METRY (-hol'-; -hom'-); SPIRIT TESTING; ALCOHOLME'TRIA, L.; ALCOoLOMeTRIE, ALCOoMeTRIE, &c., Fr. In _chemistry_, the art or process of ascertaining the richness of spirits in alcohol. In _commerce_, the determination of the quant.i.ty of spirit of a certain strength, taken as a standard, present in any given sample of spirituous or fermented liquors. In England, this standard is called "proof spirit."