Dr. URE is preparing for publication, in one large volume, 8vo., Chemistry in Theory and Practice; embodying a New System of Research, of such facility and precision, as will enable chemical manufacturers of every class, medical practitioners, metallurgists, farmers, merchants, brokers, druggists, drysalters, officers of the revenue, as well as general students, to analyze their respective objects in much less time than is usually required at present by professional chemists. A descriptive Index will be annexed for converting this systematic work into a Dictionary of Chemical Science.
A
DICTIONARY
OF
ARTS, MANUFACTURES, AND MINES.
A.
ABB-WOOL. Among clothiers, this term signifies the [woof] or [weft].
ACETATE. (Acétate, Fr.; Essigsäure, Germ.) Any saline compound of which the acetic is the acid constituent; as acetate of soda, of iron, of copper, &c.
ACETATE OF ALUMINA, see [Red Liquor] and [Mordant]; of Copper, see [Copper]; of Iron, see [Iron]; of Lead, see [Lead]; of Lime, see [Pyrolignous Acid].
ACETIC ACID (Acide Acétique, Fr.; Essigsäure, Germ.) is the name of the sour principle which exists in vinegar. It occurs, ready formed, in several products of the vegetable kingdom, and is generated during the spontaneous fermentation of many vegetable and animal juices. The sambucus nigra, or black elder, the phœnix dactilifera, and the rhus typhinus are plants which afford a notable quantity of vinegar. It is found, likewise, in the sweat, urine, milk, and stomach of animals. All infusions of animal or vegetable matters in water, when exposed for some time to the air, at a moderate temperature, ferment into vinegar; and most vegetables, when subjected to decomposition by fire, give off condensable vapours of acetic acid. All liquids containing alcohol are susceptible of passing into the state of vinegar; but the pre-existence of alcohol is not necessary to this change, as we learn from the acetification of vegetable soups, infusion of cabbage, starch—paste, &c.
Vinegar may be distinguished into four varieties, according to the mode of its production, though all of them are capable of being converted, by chemical means, into one identical acetic acid. 1. Wine vinegar. 2. Malt vinegar. 3. Sugar vinegar. 4. Wood vinegar, or pyrolignous acid. Fermentation is the source of the acid in the first three varieties. Here alcohol is first generated, and is next converted into vinegar by the influence of the air at a genial temperature; a change which will be investigated under [Fermentation]. But the conversion of spirit of wine into acetic acid may be demonstrated by direct experiment. When the vapour of alcohol is brought into contact in the atmosphere with the black powder obtained by mixing muriate of platina, potash, and alcohol, vinegar is rapidly formed at the expense of the alcohol. In Germany, where crude alcohol bears a low price, the manufacture of vinegar has been arranged upon that principle, which, as throwing some light on the process of acetification, I shall briefly describe. See [Platinum] for the mode of preparing the above powder.