A Chemist of merit, Mr. A. Müntz, who has already made himself known by
important labors and by analytical researches of great precision, has
been led to a very curious and totally unexpected discovery, on the
subject of which he has kindly given us information in detail, which we
place before our readers.[1] Mr. Müntz has discovered that arable soil,
waters of the ocean and streams, and the atmosphere contain traces of
alcohol; and that this compound, formed by the fermentation of organic
matters, is everywhere distributed throughout nature. We should add that
only infinitesimal quantities are involved--reaching only the proportion
of millionths--yet the fact, for all that, offers a no less powerful
interest. The method of analysis which has permitted the facts to be
shown is very elegant and scrupulously exact, and is worthy of being
made known.
[Footnote 1: The accompanying engravings have been made from drawings of
the apparatus in the laboratory of which Mr. Müntz is director, at the
Agronomic Institute.]
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--FIRST DISTILLATORY APPARATUS.]
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--SECOND DISTILLATORY APPARATUS.]
Mr. Müntz's method of procedure is as follows: He submits to
distillation three or four gallons of snow, rain, or sea water in an
apparatus such as shown in Fig. 1. The part which serves as a boiler,
and which holds the liquid to be distilled, is a milk-can, B. The vapors
given off through the action of the heat circulate through a leaden tube
some thirty-three feet in length, and then traverse a tube inclosed
within a refrigerating cylinder, T, which is kept constantly cold by a
current of water. They are finally condensed in a glass flask, R, which
forms the receiver. When 100 or 150 cubic centimeters of condensed
liquid (which contains all the alcohol) are collected in the receiver,
the operations are suspended. The liquid thus obtained is distilled anew
in a second apparatus, which is analogous to the preceding but much
smaller (Fig. 2). The liquid is heated in the flask, B, and its vapor,
after traversing a glass worm, is condensed in the tube, T. The
operation is suspended as soon as five or six cubic centimeters of the
condensed liquid have been collected in the test-tube, R. The latter is
now removed, and to its liquid contents, there is added a small quantity
of iodine and carbonate of soda. The mixture is slightly heated, and
soon there are seen forming, through precipitation, small crystals of
iodoform. Under such circumstances, iodoform could only have been formed
through the presence of an alcohol in the liquid. These analytical
operations are verified by Mr. Müntz as follows: He distills in the same
apparatus three to four gallons of chemically pure distilled water, and
ascertains positively that under these conditions iodine and carbonate
of soda give absolutely no reaction. Finally, to complete the
demonstration and to ascertain the approximate quantity of alcohol
contained in natural waters, he undertakes the double fractional
distillation of a certain quantity of pure water to which he has
previously added a one-millionth part of alcohol. Under these
circumstances the iodine and carbonate of soda give a precipitate of
iodoform exactly similar to that obtained by treating natural waters.
[Illustration: Fig. 3.--IODOFORM CRYSTALS OBTAINED DIRECTLY (greatly
magnified).]
[Illustration: FIG. 4,--IODOFORM CRYSTALS OBTAINED WITH RAIN WATER.]
In the case of arable soil, Mr. Müntz stirs up a weighed quantity of the
material to be analyzed in a certain proportion of water, distills it in
the smaller of the two apparatus, and detects the alcohol by means of
the same operation as before.
[Illustration: FIG. 5.--IODOFORM CRYSTALS OBTAINED WITH SNOW WATER.]
The formation of iodoform by precipitation under the action of iodine
and carbonate of soda is a very sensitive test for alcohol. Iodoform
has sharply defined characters which allow of its being very easily
distinguished. Its crystalline form, especially, is entirely typical,
its color is pale yellowish, and, when it is examined under the
microscope, it is seen to be in the form of six-pointed stars precisely
like the crystalline form of snow. Mr. Müntz has not been contented to
merely submit the iodoform precipitates obtained by him to microscopical
examination, but has preserved the aspect of his preparations by
means of micro-photography. The figures annexed show some of the most
characteristic of the proofs. Fig. 1 shows crystals of iodoform obtained
with pure water to which one-millionth part of alcohol had been added.
Fig. 2 exhibits the form of the crystals obtained with rain water; and
Fig. 3, those with water. Fig. 4 shows crystals obtained with arable
soil or garden mould. The first of Mr. Müntz's experiments were made
about four years ago; but since that time he has treated a great number
of rain and snow waters collected both at Paris and in the country. At
every distillation all the apparatus was cleansed by prolonged washing
in a current of steam; and, in order to confirm each analysis, a
corresponding experiment was made like the one before mentioned. More
than eighty trials gave results which were exactly identical. The
quantity of alcohol contained in rain, snow, and sea waters may be
estimated at from one to several millionths. Cold water and melted snow
seem to contain larger proportions of it than tepid waters. In the
waters of the Seine it is found in appreciable quantities, and in sewage
waters the proportions increase very perceptibly. Vegetable mould is
quite rich in it; indeed it is quite likely that alcohol in its natural
state has its origin in the soil through the fermentation of the organic
matters contained therein. It is afterward disseminated throughout the
atmosphere in the state of vapor and becomes combined with the aqueous
vapors whenever they become condensed. The results which we have just
recorded are, as far as known to us, absolutely new; they constitute a
work which is entirely original, which very happily goes to complete the
history of the composition of the soil and atmosphere, and which does
great credit to its author.--_La Nature_.
[Illustration: FIG. 6.--IODOFORM CRYSTALS OBTAINED WITH VEGETABLE
MOULD.]
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