Diethyl ether

“ The greater portion of the lead salt was insoluble in ether and alcohol, its fat was separated and added to the first crop of crystals which fell from the alcoholic solution of the fat from saponification. To ascertain whether any glycerine was in combination with the fatty acids in the adipocire, the aqueous solution from which the crop was precipitated by tartaric acid during the purification of the fat, was heated, filtered from small fat globules, and after removing the tartar deposit, subjected to distillation. The acid residue of the retort was neutralized by carb. ”

“ The ether, being freed from acetic acid and alcohol by neutralization and washing, is brought in contact with fused calcium chloride to free it from water, and finally rectified over magnesia. In this manner 36 to 37 lbs. of pure acetic ether are obtained.
Acetic ether is a clear, colorless fluid of a pleasant, etheral odor. It boils at 170.6° F., and at 59° F. its specific gravity is 0.9068. Pure acetic ether dissolves in 11 to 12 parts of water; a content of alcohol or the addition of water increases its solubility. Hence, its solubility in water is a criterion of its purity. ”

“ Butter is a mixture of various fats, and as fats are soluble in ether, it is easy to make an ethereal solution of the fat of milk by shaking up milk with ether, after adding a little caustic potash to it and keeping it moderately warm. In this long tube you see a layer of ether holding fat in solution, floating on the top of the fluid. Fat also consists of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, but in proportions different from those in which these elements exist in the carbo-hydrates. It contains no nitrogen. Fatty matter must always exist in a diet suitable for sustaining life. ”

“ Hitherto, attention has been mainly directed to the manufacture of chloroform, and the study of its anesthetic properties. Many chemists, however, have casually noticed the power it possesses of dissolving essential oils, fixed fatty matters, camphor resins, (even those which dissolve with difficulty in alcohol and ether, such as copal resin, for example,) iodine, bromine, vegetable alkalies, india rubber insoluble in alcohol, and but slightly soluble in ether, and, finally, gutta percha, insoluble according to M. Vogel, in both these menstrua. ”

“ Neither of these specimens gave any traces of fat globules with the microscope, but contained aggregations of white angular fatty matter, of nearly the same size, and about one fourth the diameter of fat globules. With ether the fat disappeared, and left shrunken membranous matter, which after the evaporation of the ether and treatment with acetic acid, became, for the most part, transparent. A comparative experiment with beef fat gave similar results, and I am inclined to think that the most of this matter proceeds from the fat cells, [9] and their accompanying cellular tissue. ”

“ When dissolved in about four times its weight of ether, and allowed to evaporate spontaneously, it does not deposit any fat until more than half of the ether has passed off, and if the temperature is not below 60° the deposit is not solid. ”

“ The acid is analogous to the fatty acids, and the ether is liquid, but insoluble in water. The acid is perfectly white when pure, of the consistence of butter at 60°, melts with a moderate heat, reddens litmus, and dissolves in caustic and carbonated alkalis, as well as in alcohol and ether. Œnanthic ether is colourless, has an extremely strong smell of wine, which is almost intoxicating when inhaled, and a powerful disagreeable taste. ”

“ A drop of phenolphthalein is now added, a little water, and the acidity determined by titration with deci-normal baryta solution, and the baryta solution taken calculated as oleic acid.
~Combined Fatty Acid.~ About 30 grms. of the glycerine are placed in a flask, and to it is added about half a grm. of caustic soda in solution. The mixture is heated for ten minutes at 150° C. After cooling some pure ether is added to it, and enough dilute H_{2}SO_{4} to render it distinctly acid. It is well shaken. All the fatty acids go into the ether. ”

“ In such a case the ester is best prepared by the action of an alkyl halide on the silver salt of the acid, and when once prepared, can only be hydrolysed with great difficulty.
Ethyl formate, H·CO2C2H5, boils at 55° C. and has been used in the artificial preparation of rum. Ethyl acetate (acetic ether) , CH3·CO2C2H5, boils at 75° C. Isoamylisovalerate, C4H9·CO2C5H11, boils at 196° C. and has an odour of apples. Ethyl butyrate, C3H7·CO2C2H5, boils at 121° C. and has an odour of pineapple. The fats (q.v.) and waxes (q.v.) are the esters of the higher fatty acids and alcohols. ”

“ After a sufficient time, we draw off the ether into a test-tube; we exhaust the mixture by two or three treatments with ether, and unite all the ethereal fluids. We pour afterwards into this ether, holding the alkaloid in solution, one or two drachms of water, acidulated with a fifth part of its weight of pure sulphuric acid, agitate it for some time, leave it to settle, pour off the ether swimming on the top, and wash the acid liquid at the bottom with a new quantity of ether. ”

“ Properties.—A transparent, colorless, mobile liquid, having a characteristic odor and a burning and sweetish taste. Ether is highly volatile and inflammable; its vapor, when mixed with air and ignited, explodes violently. Miscible in all proportions with alcohol, chloroform, benzine, benzol, fixed and volatile oils. Ether is a solvent for fats, oils, alkaloids, resins, gutta percha and guncotton. Upon evaporation ether should have no residue. Ether vapor is heavier than air and consequently etherization should never be done above a light or fire. ”

“ The villous coat of the stomach was reddish-black, the other coats of a lively red colour. [2541]
The effects of the ethers on man have not been accurately ascertained. From some observations published in the Journal of Science, sulphuric ether appears to act energetically even in small doses. In moderate quantity it produces a strong sense of irritation in the throat, a feeling of fulness in the head, and other symptoms like those excited by nitrous-oxide gas. ”

“ Fatal Dose.—The fatal dose of ether, when taken as a liquid, is not known. 4 grms. (1·28 drms.) cause toxic symptoms, but the effect soon passes. Buchanan has seen a brandy-drinker consume 25 grms. (7 drms.) and yet survive. It is probable that most adults would be killed by a fluid ounce (28·4 c.c.) .
§ 172. Ether as an Anæsthetic.—Ether is now much used as an anæsthetic, and generally in conjunction with chloroform. Anæsthesia by ether is said to compare favourably with that produced by chloroform. ”

“ More exact methods of determining the amount of acidosis are the determination of the ratio between the total urinary nitrogen and the ammonia, the quantitation of the acetone, diacetic acid and oxy-butyric acid excreted, and the carbon dioxide tension of the alveolar air. These are rather complicated for average clinical use, however.
When the patient is sugar-free he is put upon a diet of so-called "5% vegetables," i.e. vegetables containing approximately 5% carbohydrate. It is best to boil these vegetables three times, with changes of water. ”

“ The fats belong to a group of substances that are strongly surface-active, while the products of disintegration produced by their decomposition, such as alcohol and fatty acids, possess no marked influence over surface-tension. If plasma of a normal animal be mixed with any kind of fat, such as tributyrin, and the mixture be allowed to flow from a capillary tube, a certain number of drops escape in a given time. But if any fat gets into the animal's circulation by whatever means, then the number of drops escaping through the capillary tube decreases. ”

“ Temperatures such as described will decompose the fat, but unless some chemical agent, such as water, lime, soda or potash, is present to take the place of the oxide of glyceryl to acidify the olein, the margarin, and the stearin, or to oxidize the said several constituents and to convert the same into oxide of olein, margarin, and stearin, neither of the fat-acids required, to wit, oleate, margarate, or stearate, can be obtained from the decomposition of fats by heat, as the oxide of glyceryl, which was their base in the original substance, is separated by the act of decomposition ”

“ A trifling amount of urea is also eliminated in the sweat and in the breath as well as in the feces. Proteins increase nitrogenous metabolism and also the metabolism of other foods, but the amount of nitrogen eliminated is just equal to that taken in. Probably some comes from the tissues themselves and not from the food. The oxidation of carbohydrates and fats is measured by the amount of carbon excreted. At first as much is given off as is taken in, but after a while the carbohydrate is stored up as glycogen in the liver and the fats are stored as fat. ”

“ The non-plastic elements of nutrition include fat, oil, starch, sugar, gum, and certain constituents of fruits, such as pectine.
All non-plastic substances—and of each kind there are numerous varieties—are capable of conversion, in the animal mechanism, into fat and oil. The non-plastic food substances do not contain nitrogen, hence they are commonly termed non-nitrogenous elements. The oily and fatty matters contain a large proportion of carbon, their next most abundant component is hydrogen, and they contain but little oxygen. ”

“ Its melting point varies from 114° to 145°, there being, according to Duffy, three modifications of this substance.
The fats and oils are lighter than water. They contain far more carbon and hydrogen, and less oxygen, than are found in the sugars and starches. They all consist of acids (stearic, palmitic, &c.) united with glycerine. On being boiled with potash or soda, the latter take the place of the glycerine, which is set free, and a soap is produced. The fatty acids strongly resemble the fats. In nutritive power, one part of fat is equal to 21⁄2 parts of starch or sugar. ”

“ The weight of material was seventy grammes; it was melted in the water bath, and filtered through paper in a hot funnel; the filtered solidified fat was of a light coffee colour, and weighed fifty-four grammes; in a capillary tube, is soft at 54°, fluid at 62°; on cooling becomes opaque at 50°. When pressed in paper, the latter is greased by oleic acid; it contains no ammonia, nor any nitrogen by the potassium test; the residue on the filter (together with the filter) was boiled with alcohol, filtered hot on a weighed filter, and washed with alcohol. ”

“ The number of known synthetic processes occurring in the animal body is constantly increasing, and the formation of the complex fat molecule from the comparatively simple and partly-oxidized sugar molecule is an instance of a complex synthesis. To build up this fat molecule a number of sugar molecules must be disintegrated and a portion of each must be taken to be combined with others into the large molecule of neutral fat. Another, but more simple, synthesis, to be referred to later, is the synthesis of the neutral fat molecule from the fatty acid absorbed from the small intestine. ”

“ About 1909-1910 Professors Osborne and Mendel under a grant from the Carnegie Institution began a detailed investigation into the value of purified proteins from various sources. In their experiments they used the white rat as the experimental animal and proceeded to feed these animals a mixture consisting of a single purified protein supplemented with the proper proportions of fat carbohydrate, and mineral salts. Since the food furnished was composed of pure nutrients and always in excess of the appetite of the rat the necessary number of calories was also present. ”

“ From oxide of glycyl ensues acroline; oleic acid affords a fatty acid, and among the decomposition products of fats containing stearine and margarine are found pure margaric acid, and, at the same time, some hydro-carbons are formed. When exposed quickly to a high temperature, fats are completely decomposed. (Oil gas.) In closed vessels the pure fats undergo no change, but, placed in thin layers in the air, the fats containing oleine and oline rapidly absorb oxygen under the strong evolution of heat, which will inflame porous bodies, as cotton wool. ”

“ Animal fats, absorb comparatively less halogen than vegetable fats, and the power to combine with iodine increases with the transition from the solid to the liquid state, and attains its maximum with vegetable oils—the method being adapted to the examination of fat mixtures containing glycerides and free saturated fatty acids, provided that substances which under similar conditions combine with iodine are absent. ”

“ It would be decidedly unwise to attempt to build up the body by giving building foods alone, without due consideration to the foods containing the agents provided by Nature to neutralize the acid formed during the process of their metabolism. It is readily seen in the table just given that meat and eggs show a marked excess of acid-forming elements, whereas vegetables and fruits yield an excess of base-forming elements. With these data, it becomes more simple to balance the diet and to avoid the acidosis which may arise from impairment of the fat metabolism of the body. ”