The per centage of silver in acetate of silver is, according to
| Theory. | Experiment. |
|---|---|
| 64,68 | 64,55. |
The acetate of amyloxide which, according to the usual way of preparing it, represents one part sulphuric acid, one part fusel oil, and two parts of acetate of potash, had a striking smell of fruit, but it acquired the pleasant flavor of the jargonelle pear only after having been diluted with six times its volume of spirits of wine.
Upon further inquiry I learned that considerable quantities of this oil are manufactured by some distillers, from fifteen to twenty pounds weekly, and sold to confectioners, who employ it chiefly it flavoring pear-drops, which are nothing else but barley-sugar, flavored with this oil.
I found, besides the pear-oil, also an apple-oil, which, according to my analysis, is nothing but valerianate of amyloxide. Every one must recollect the insupportable smell of rotten apples which fills the laboratory whilst making valerianic acid. By operating upon this new distillate produced with diluted potash, valerianic acid is removed, and an ether remains behind which, diluted in five or six times its volume of spirits of wine, is possessed of the most pleasant flavor of apples.
The essential oil most abundant in the Exhibition was the pine-apple oil, which, as you well know, is nothing else but the butyrate of ethyloxide. Even in this combination, as in {150} the former, the pleasant flavor or scent is only attained by diluting the ether with alcohol. The butyric ether which is employed in Germany to flavor bad rum, is employed in England to flavor an acidulated drink called pine-apple ale. For this purpose they generally do not employ pure butyric acid, but a product obtained by saponification of butter, and subsequent distillation of the soap with concentrated sulphuric acid and alcohol; which product contains, besides the butyric ether, other ethers, but nevertheless can be used for flavoring spirits. The sample I analyzed was purer, and appeared to have been made with pure butyric ether.
Decomposed with potash and changed into silver salt, it gave
0,4404 gram. of silver salt = 0,2437 gram. of silver.
The per centage of silver in the butyrate of silver is according to
| Theory. | Experiment. |
|---|---|
| 55,38 | 55,33. |