yric acid separated as before, with sulphuric acid.

The whole of the crude acid is to be rectified with the addition of an
ounce of sulphuric acid to every pound. The distillate is then saturated
with fused chloride of calcium, and redistilled. The product will be
about 28 ounces of pure butyric acid. To prepare the butyric acid or
essence of pine-apple, from this acid proceed as follows:--Mix, by
weight, three parts of butyric acid with six parts of alcohol, and two
parts of sulphuric acid in a retort, and submit the whole, with a
sufficient heat, to a gentle distillation, until the fluid which passes
over ceases to emit a fruity odor. By treating the distillate with
chloride of calcium, and by its redistillation, the pure ether may be
obtained.

The boiling-point of butyric ether is 238 deg. Fahr. Its specific gravity,
0.904, and its formula,

C_{12}H_{12}O_{4}, or C_{4}H_{5}O + C_{8}H_{7}O_{3}.

Bensch's process, above described, for the production of butyric acid,
affords a remarkable exemplification of the extraordinary
transformations that organic bodies undergo in contact with ferment, or
by catalytic action. When cane sugar is treated with tartaric acid,
especially under the influence of heat, it is converted into grape
sugar. This grape sugar, in the presence of decomposing nitrogenous
substances, such as cheese, is transformed in the first instance into
lactic acid, which combines with the lime of the chalk. The acid of the
lactate of lime, thus produced, is by the further influence of the
ferment changed into butyric acid. Hence, butyrate of lime is the final
result of the catalytic action in the process we have here recommended.

* * * * *

PREPARATION OF CRUDE PELARGONATE OF ETHYL-OXIDE (ESSENCE OF QUINCE.)

BY DR. R. WAGNER.

It has been believed, until the most recent period, that the peel of
quinces contains oenanthylate of ethyl-oxide. New researches, however,
have led to the supposition that the odorous principle of quinces is
derived from the ether of pelargonic acid. In my last research on the
action of nitric acid on oil of rue, I found that besides the fatty
acids, which Gerhardt had already discovered, pelargonic acid is formed.
This process may be advantageously employed for the preparation of crude
pelargonate of ethyl-oxide, which, on account of its extremely agreeable
odor, may be applied as a fruit essence equally with those prepared by
Dobereiner, H