[1] The chateau of Meudon, belonging to the Sanguin family, was
handed over to the duchesse d'Etampes in 1539. Sanguin was translated
to Limoges in 1546, and became archbishop of Toulouse in 1550.
ETAMPES, a town of northern France, capital of an arrondissement in the
department of Seine-et-Oise, on the Orleans railway, 35 m. S. by W. of
Paris. Pop. (1906) 8720. Etampes is a long straggling town hemmed in
between the railway on the north and the Chalouette on the south; the
latter is a tributary of the Juine which waters the eastern outskirts of
the town. A fine view of Etampes is obtained from the Tour Guinette, a
ruined keep built by Louis VI. in the 12th century on an eminence on the
other side of the railway. Notre-Dame du Fort, the chief church, dates
from the 11th and 12th centuries; irregular in plan, it is remarkable
for a fine Romanesque tower and spire, and for the crenellated wall
which partly surrounds it. The interior contains ancient paintings and
other artistic works. St Basile (12th and 16th centuries), which
preserves a Romanesque doorway, and St Martin (12th and 13th centuries),
with a leaning tower of the 16th century, are of less importance. The
civil buildings offer little interest, but two houses named after Anne
de Pisseleu (see above), mistress of Francis I., and Diane de Poitiers,
mistress of Henry II., are graceful examples of Renaissance
architecture. In the square there is a statue of the naturalist,
Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, who was born in Etampes. The subprefecture, a
tribunal of first instance, and a communal college are among the public
institutions of Etampes. Flour-milling, metal-founding,
leather-dressing, printing and the manufacture of boots and shoes and
hosiery are carried on; there are quarries of paving-stone, nurseries
and market gardens in the vicinity, and the town has important markets
for cereals and sheep.
Etampes (Lat. _Stampae_) existed at the beginning of the 7th century and
in the early middle ages belonged to the crown domain. During the middle
ages it was the scene of several councils, the most notable of which
took place in 1130 and resulted in the recognition of Innocent II. as
the legitimate pope. In 1652, during the war of the Fronde it suffered
severely at the hands of the royal troops under Turenne.
_Lords, Counts and Dukes of Etampes._--The lordship of Etampes, in what
is now the department of Seine et Oise in France, belonged to the royal
domain, but was detached from it on several occasions in favour of
princes, or kings' favourites. St Louis gave it to his mother Blanche of
Castile, and then to his wife Marguerite of Provence. Louis, the brother
of Philip the Fair, became lord of Etampes in 1317 and count in 1327; he
was succeeded by his son and his grandson. Francis I. raised the
countship of Etampes to the rank of a duchy for his mistress Anne de
Pisseleu D'Heilly. The new duchy passed to Diane de Poitiers (1553), to
Catherine of Lorraine, duchess of Montpensier (1578), to Marguerite of
Valois (1582) and to Gabrielle d'Estrees (1598). The latter transmitted
it to her son, Cesar of Vendome, and his descendants held it till 1712.
It then passed by inheritance to the families of Bourbon-Conti and of
Orleans.
ETAPLES, a town of northern France, in the department of Pas-de-Calais,
on the right bank of the estuary of the Canche, 3 m. from the Straits of
Dover, 17 m. S. of Boulogne by rail. Pop. (1906) 5136. Etaples has a
small fishing and commercial port which enjoyed a certain importance
during the middle ages. Boat-building is carried on. There is an old
church with a statue of the Virgin much revered by the sailors. The
Canche is crossed by a bridge over 1600 ft. in length. Le Touquet, in
the midst of pine woods, and the neighbouring watering-place of
Paris-Plage, 3-1/2 m. W. of Etaples at the mouth of the estuary, are
much frequented by English and French visitors for golf, tennis and
bathing, and Etaples itself is a centre for artists. Antiquarian
discoveries in the vicinity of Etaples have led to the conjecture that
it occupies the site of the Gallo-Roman port of _Quentovicus_. In 1492 a
treaty was signed here between Henry VII., king of England, and Charles
VIII., king of France.
ETAWAH, a town and district of British India, in the Agra division of
the United Provinces. The town is situated on the left bank of the
Jumna, and has a station on the East Indian railway, 206 m. from
Allahabad. Pop. (1901) 42,570. Deep fissures intersect the various
quarters of the town, over which broad roads connect the higher portions
by bridges and embankments. The Jama Masjid (Great Mosque) is the chief
architectural ornament of Etawah. It was originally a Hindu temple, and
was adapted to its present use by the Mahommedan conquerors. Several
fine Hindu temples also stand about the mound on which are the ruins of
the ancient fort. Etawah is now only the civil headquarters of the
district, the military cantonment having been abandoned in 1861.
Considerable trade is carried on by rail and river. The manufactures
include cotton cloth, skin-bottles, combs and horn-ware and sweetmeats.
The DISTRICT OF ETAWAH has an area of 1691 sq. m. It forms a purely
artificial administrative division, stretching across the level plain of
the Doab, and beyond the valley of the Jumna, to the gorges of the
Chambal, and the last rocky outliers of the Vindhyan range. The district
exhibits a striking variety of surface and scenery. The greater portion
lies within the Doab or level alluvial plain between the Ganges and the
Jumna. This part falls naturally into two sections, divided by the deep
and fissured valley of the river Sengar. The tract to the north-east of
that stream is rich and fertile, being watered by the Cawnpore and
Etawah branches of the Ganges canal, and other important works. The
south-western region has the same natural advantages, but possesses no
great irrigation system, and is consequently less fruitful than the
opposite slopes. Near the banks of the Jumna, the plain descends into
the river valley by a series of wild ravines and terraces, inhabited
only by a scattered race of hereditary herdsmen. Beyond the Jumna again
a strip of British territory extends along the tangled gorges of the
Chambal and the Kuari Nadi, far into the borders of the Gwalior state.
This outlying tract embraces a series of rocky glens and mountain
torrents, crowned by the ruins of native strongholds, and interspersed
with narrow ledges of cultivable alluvium. The climate, once hot and
sultry, has now become comparatively moist and equable under the
influence of irrigation and the planting of trees.
Etawah was marked out by its physical features as a secure retreat for
the turbulent tribes of the Upper Doab, and it was not till the 12th
century that any of the existing castes settled on the soil. After the
Mussulman conquests of Delhi and the surrounding country, the Hindus of
Etawah appear to have held their own for many generations against the
Mahommedan power; but in the 16th century Baber conquered the district,
with the rest of the Doab, and it remained in the hands of the Moguls
until the decay of their empire. After passing through the usual
vicissitudes of Mahratta and Jat conquests during the long anarchy which
preceded the British rule, Etawah was annexed by the wazir of Oudh in
1773. The wazir ceded it to the East India Company in 1801, but it still
remained so largely in the hands of lawless native chiefs that some
difficulty was experienced in reducing it to orderly government. During
the mutiny of 1857 serious disturbances occurred in Etawah, and the
district was occupied by the rebels from June to December; order was not
completely restored till the end of 1858. In 1901 the population was
806,798, showing an increase of 11% in the decade. The district is
partly watered by branches of the Ganges canal, and is traversed
throughout by the main line of the East Indian railway from Cawnpore to
Agra. Cotton, oilseeds and other agricultural produce are exported, and
some indigo is made, but manufacturing industry is slight.
ETCHING (Dutch, _etsen_, to eat), a form of engraving (q.v.) in which,
in contradistinction to line engraving (q.v.), where the furrow is
produced by the ploughing of the burin, the copper is eaten away or
corroded by acid.
To prepare a plate for etching it is first covered with etching-ground,
a composition which resists acid. The qualities of a ground are to be so
adhesive that it will not quit the copper when a small quantity is left
isolated between lines, yet not so adhesive that the etching point
cannot easily and entirely remove it; at the same time a good ground
will be hard enough to bear the hand upon it, or a sheet of paper, yet
not so hard as to be brittle. The ground used by Abraham Bosse, the
French painter and engraver (1602-1676) was composed as follows:--Melt 2
oz. of white wax; then add to it 1 oz. of gum-mastic in powder, a little
at a time, stirring till the wax and the mastic are well mingled; then
add, in the same manner, 1 oz. of bitumen in powder. There are three
different ways of applying an etching-ground to a plate. The
old-fashioned way was to wrap a ball of the ground in silk, heat the
plate, and then rub the ball upon the surface, enough of the ground to
cover the plate melting through the silk. To equalize the ground a
dabber was used, which was made of cotton-wool under horsehair, the
whole inclosed in silk. This method is still used by many artists, from
tradition and habit, but it is far inferior in perfection and
convenience to that which we will now describe. When the etching-ground
is melted, add to it half its volume of essential oil of lavender, mix
well, and allow the mixture to cool. You have now a paste which can be
spread upon a cold plate with a roller; these rollers are covered with
leather and made (very carefully) for the purpose. You first spread a
little paste on a sheet of glass (if too thick, add more oil of lavender
and mix with a palette knife), and roll it till the roller is quite
equally charged all over, when the paste is easily transferred to the
copper, which is afterwards gently heated to expel the oil of lavender.
In both these methods of grounding a plate, the work is not completed
until the ground has been smoked, which is effected as follows. The
plate is held by a hand-vice if a small one, or if large, is fixed at
some height, with the covered side downwards. A smoking torch, composed
of many thin bees-wax dips twisted together, is then lighted and passed
repeatedly under the plate in every direction, till the ground has
incorporated enough lampblack to blacken it. The third way of covering a
plate for etching is to apply the ground in solution as collodion is
applied by photographers. The ground may be dissolved in chloroform, or
in oil of lavender. The plate being grounded, its back and edges are
protected from the acid by Japan varnish, which soon dries, and then the
drawing is traced upon it. The best way of tracing a drawing is to use
sheet gelatine, which is employed as follows. The gelatine is laid upon
the drawing, which its transparence allows you to see perfectly, and you
trace the lines by scratching the smooth surface with a sharp point. You
then fill these scratches with fine black-lead, in powder, rubbing it in
with the finger, turn the tracing with its face to the plate, and rub
the back of it with a burnisher. The black-lead from the scratches
adheres to the etching ground and shows upon it as pale grey, much more
visible than anything else you can use for tracing. Then comes the work
of the etching-needle, which is merely a piece of steel sharpened more
or less. J.M.W. Turner used a prong of an old steel fork which did as
well as anything, but neater etching-needles are sold by artists'
colour-makers. The needle removes the ground or cover and lays the
copper bare. Some artists sharpen their needles so as to present a
cutting edge which, when used sideways, scrapes away a broad line; and
many etchers use needles of various degrees of sharpness to get thicker
or thinner lines. It may be well to observe, in connexion with this part
of the subject, that whilst thick lines agree perfectly well with the
nature of woodcut, they are very apt to give an unpleasant heaviness to
plate engraving of all kinds, whilst thin lines have generally a clear
and agreeable appearance in plate engraving. Nevertheless, lines of
moderate thickness are used effectively in etching when covered with
finer shading, and very thick lines indeed were employed with good
results by Turner when he intended to cover them with mezzotint (q.v.),
and to print in brown ink, because their thickness was essential to
prevent them from being overwhelmed by the mezzotint, and the brown ink
made them print less heavily than black. Etchers differ in opinion as to
whether the needle ought to scratch the copper or simply to glide upon
its surface. A gliding needle is much more free, and therefore
communicates a greater appearance of freedom to the etching, but it has
the inconvenience that the etching-ground may not always be entirely
removed, and then the lines may be defective from insufficient biting. A
scratching needle, on the other hand, is free from this serious
inconvenience, but it must not scratch irregularly so as to _engrave_
lines of various depth. The _biting_ in former times was generally done
with a mixture of nitric acid and water, in equal proportions; but in
the present day a Dutch mordant is a good deal used, which is composed
as follows: Hydrochloric acid, 100 grammes; chlorate of potash, 20
grammes; water, 880 grammes. To make it, heat the water, add the
chlorate of potash, wait till it is entirely dissolved, and then add the
acid. The nitrous mordant acts rapidly and causes ebullition; the Dutch
mordant acts slowly and causes no ebullition. The nitrous mordant widens
the lines; the Dutch mordant bites in depth, and does not widen the
lines to any perceptible degree. The time required for both depends upon
temperature. A mordant bites slowly when cold, and more and more rapidly
when heated. To obviate irregularity caused by difference of
temperature, it is a good plan to heat the Dutch mordant artificially to
95 deg. Fahr. by lamps under the bath (for which a photographer's
porcelain tray is most convenient), and keep it steadily to that
temperature; the results may then be counted upon; but whatever the
temperature fixed upon, the results will be regular if it is regular. To
get different degrees of biting on the same plate the lines which are to
be pale are "stopped out" by being painted over with Japan varnish or
with etching ground dissolved in oil of lavender, the darkest lines
being reserved to the last, as they have to bite longest. When the acid
has done its work properly the lines are bitten in such various degrees
of depth that they will print with the degree of blackness required; but
if some parts of the subject require to be made paler, they can be
lowered by rubbing them with charcoal and olive oil, and if they have
to be made deeper they can be rebitten, or covered with added shading.
Rebiting is done with the roller above mentioned, which is now charged
very lightly with paste and rolled over the copper with no pressure but
its own weight, so as to cover the smooth surface but not fill up any of
the lines. The oil of lavender is then expelled as before by gently
heating the plate, but it is not smoked. The lines which require
rebiting may now be rebitten, and the others preserved against the
action of the acid by stopping out. These are a few of the most
essential technical points in etching, but there are many matters of
detail for which the reader is referred to the special works on the
subject.
There are many varieties in the processes of etching, and it is only
necessary here to indicate the essential facts. A brief analysis of
different styles may be given.
(1) _Pure Line._ As there is line engraving, so there is line etching;
but as the etching-needle is a freer instrument than the burin, the line
has qualities which differ widely from those of the burin line. Each of
the two has its own charm and beauty; the liberty of the one is
charming, and the restraint of the other is admirable also in its right
place. In line etching, as in line engraving, the great masters
purposely exhibit the line and do not hide it under too much shading.
(2) _Line and Shade._ This answers exactly in etching to Mantegna's work
in engraving. The most important lines are drawn first throughout, and
the shade thrown over them like a wash with the brush over a pen sketch
in indelible ink. (3) _Shade and Texture._ This is used chiefly to
imitate oil-painting. Here the line (properly so called) is entirely
abandoned, and the attention of the etcher is given to texture and
chiaroscuro. He uses lines, of course, to express these, but does not
exhibit them for their own beauty; on the contrary, he conceals them.
Of these three styles of etching the first is technically the easiest,
and being also the most rapid, is adopted for sketching on the copper
from nature; the second is the next in difficulty; and the third the
most difficult, on account of the biting, which is never easy to manage
when it becomes elaborate. The etcher has, however, many resources; he
can make passages paler by burnishing them, or by using charcoal, or he
can efface them entirely with the scraper and charcoal; he can darken
them by rebiting or by regrounding the plate and adding fresh work; and
he need not run the risk of biting the very palest passages of all,
because these can be easily done with the _dry point_, which is simply a
well-sharpened stylus used directly on the copper without the help of
acid. It is often asserted that any one can etch who can draw, but this
is a mistaken assertion likely to mislead. Without requiring so long an
apprenticeship as the burin, etching is a very difficult art indeed, the
two main causes of its difficulty being that the artist does not see his
work properly as he proceeds, and that mistakes or misfortunes in the
biting, which are of frequent occurrence to the inexperienced, may
destroy all the relations of tone.
Etching, like line engraving, owed much to the old masters, but whereas,
with the exception of Albert Durer, the painters were seldom practical
line engravers, they advanced etching not only by advice given to others
but by the work of their own hands. Rembrandt did as much for etching as
either Raphael or Rubens for line engraving; and in landscape the
etchings of Claude had an influence which still continues, both
Rembrandt and Claude being practical workmen in etching, and very
skilful workmen. Ostade, Ruysdael, Berghem, Paul Potter, Karl Dujardin,
etched as they painted, and so did a greater than any of them, Vandyck.
In the earlier part of the 19th century etching was almost a defunct
art, except as it was employed by engravers as a help to get faster
through their work, of which "engraving" got all the credit, the public
being unable to distinguish between etched lines and lines cut with the
burin. But from the middle of the century dates a great revival of
etching as an independent art, a revival which has extended all over
Europe.
Apart from the copying of pictures by etching--which was found
commercially preferable to the use of line engraving--a number of
artists and amateurs gradually practised original etching with
increasing success, notably Sir Seymour Haden, J.M. Whistler, Samuel
Palmer and others in England, Felix Bracquemond, C.F. Daubigny, Charles
Jacque, Adolphe Appian, Maxime Lalanne, Jules Jacquemart and others on
the continent, besides that singular and remarkable genius, Charles
Meryon. Etching clubs, or associations of artists for the publication of
original etchings, were gradually founded in England, France, Germany
and Belgium. Meryon and Whistler are two of the greatest modern etchers.
Among earlier names mention may be made of Andrew Geddes (1783-1844) and
of Sir David Wilkie (1785-1841). Geddes was the finer artist with the
needle; he it was whom Rembrandt best inspired; his work was in the
grand manner. Of the rich and rare dry-points "At Peckham Rye" and "At
Halliford-on-Thames," the deepest and most brilliant master of landscape
would have no need to be ashamed. David Wilkie's prints were, naturally,
not less dramatic than his pictures, but the etcher's particular gift
was possessed by him more intermittently: it is shown best in "The
Receipt," a strong and vivid, dexterous sketch, quite full of character.
J.S. Cotman's (1782-1842) etchings are also historically interesting
though they were "soft ground" for the most part. They show all his
qualities of elegance and freedom as a draughtsman, and much of his
large dignity in the distribution of light and shade. T. Girtin
(1775-1802), in the preparations for his views of Paris, was notably
happy. The work of Sir Francis Seymour Haden (b. 1818) had a powerful
influence on the art in England. Between 1858 and 1879 Seymour
Haden--the first president of the Royal Society of Painter
Etchers--produced the vast majority of his plates, which have always
good draughtsmanship, unity of effect and a personal impression. They
show a strong feeling for nature. If, amongst some two hundred subjects,
it were necessary to select one or two for peculiar praise, they might
be the "Breaking up of the _Agamemnon_," the almost perfect "Water
Meadow," the masterly presentment of "Erith Marshes," and the later
dry-point of "Windmill Hill." Another great etcher--Frenchman by birth,
but English by long residence--is Alphonse Legros (q.v.). Great in
expression and suggestive draughtsmanship, austere and economical in
line, Legros's work is the grave record of the observation and the fancy
of an imaginative mind. In poetic portraiture nothing can well exceed
his etched vision of G.F. Watts; "La Mort du Vagabond" is noticeable for
terror and homely pathos; "Communion dans l'Eglise St Medard" is perhaps
the best instance of the dignity, vigour and grave sympathy with which
he addresses himself to ecclesiastical themes. Something of these latter
qualities, in dealing with similar themes, Legros passed on to his
pupil, Sir Charles Holroyd (b. 1861)--an etcher in the true vein; whilst
an earlier pupil, prolific as himself, as imaginative, and sometimes
more deliberately uncouth--William Strang, A.R.A. (b. 1859)--carried on
in his own way the tradition of that part of Legros's practice, the
preoccupation with the humble, for which Legros himself found certain
warrant in a portion of the great _oeuvre_ of Rembrandt. Frank Short,
A.R.A. (b. 1857), as with the very touch of Turner, carried to
completion great designs that Turner left unfinished for the _Liber
studiorum_. The delicacy of "Sleeping till the Flood," the curiously
suggestive realism of "Wrought Nails"--a scene in the Black
Country--entitle him to a lasting place in the list of the fine wielders
of the etching-needle. D.Y. Cameron (b. 1865) betrays the influence of
Rembrandt in a noble etching, "Border Towers," and the influence of
Meryon in such a print as that of "The Palace, Stirling." His "London
Set" is particularly fine. The individuality of C.J. Watson is less
marked, but his skill, chiefly in architectural work, is noticeable.
Admirers of the studiously accurate portraiture of a great monument may
be able to set Watson's print of "St Etienne du Mont" by the side of
Meryon's august and mysterious and ever-memorable vision. Paul Helleu
(b. 1859) in his brilliant sketches, particularly of women, has used the
art of etching in a peculiarly individual and delightful way. Among the
numerous other modern etchers only a bare mention can be made of Oliver
Hall, Minna Bolingbroke and Elizabeth Armstrong (Mrs Watson and Mrs
Stanhope Forbes), Alfred East, Robert Macbeth, Walter Sickert, Robert
Goff, Mortimer Menpes, Percy Thomas, Raven Hill, and Prof. H. von
Herkomer, in England; in France, Roussel, J.F. Raffaelli (b. 1850),
Besnard and J.J.J. Tissot (1836-1902).
The oldest treatise on etching is that of Abraham Bosse (1645). See
also P.G. Hamerton, _Etching and Etchers_ (1868), and _Etchers'
Handbook_ (1881); F. Wedmore, _Etching in England_ (1895); Singer and
Strang, _Etching, Engraving, &c._ (1897).
ETEOCLES, in Greek legend, king of Thebes, son of Oedipus and Jocasta
(Iocaste). After their father had been driven out of the country, he and
his brother Polyneices agreed to reign alternately for a year. Eteocles,
however, refused to keep the agreement, and Polyneices fled to Adrastus,
king of Argos, whom he persuaded to undertake the famous expedition
against Thebes on his behalf. The two brothers met in single combat, and
both were slain. The Theban rulers decreed that only Eteocles should
receive the honour of burial, but the decree was set at naught by
Antigone (q.v.), the sister of Polyneices. The fate of Eteocles and
Polyneices forms the subject of the _Seven against Thebes_ of Aeschylus
and the _Phoenissae_ of Euripides.
ETESIAN WIND (Lat. _etesius_, annual; Gr. [Greek: etos], year), a
Mediterranean wind blowing from the north and west in summer for about
six weeks annually.
ETEX, ANTOINE (1808-1888), French sculptor, painter and architect, was
born in Paris on the 20th of March 1808. He first exhibited in the salon
of 1833, his work including a reproduction in marble of his "Death of
Hyacinthus," and the plaster cast of his "Cain and his race cursed by
God." Thiers, who was at this time minister of public works, now
commissioned him to execute the two groups of "Peace" and "War," placed
at each side of the Arc de Triomphe. This last, which established his
reputation, he reproduced in marble in the salon of 1839. The French
capital contains numerous examples of the sculptural works of Etex,
which included mythological and religious subjects besides a great
number of portraits. His paintings include the subjects of Eurydice and
the martyrdom of Saint Sebastian, and among the best known of his
architectural productions are the tomb of Napoleon I. in the Invalides
and a monument of the revolution of 1848. Etex wrote a number of essays
on subjects connected with the arts. The last year of his life was spent
at Nice, and he died at Chaville (Seine-et-Oise) on the 14th of July
1888.
See P.E. Mangeant, _Antoine Etex, peintre, sculpteur et architecte,
1808-1888_ (Paris, 1894).
ETHER, (C2H5)2O, the _Aether_ of pharmacy, a colourless, volatile,
highly inflammable liquid, of specific gravity 0.736 at 0 deg.,
boiling-point 35 deg. C., and freezing-point -117 deg. .4 C. (K.
Olszewski). It has a strong and characteristic odour, and a hot sweetish
taste, is soluble in ten parts of water, and in all proportions in
alcohol, and dissolves bromine, iodine, and, in small quantities,
sulphur and phosphorus, also the volatile oils, most fatty and resinous
substances, guncotton, caoutchouc and certain of the vegetable
alkaloids. The vapour mixed with oxygen or air is violently explosive.
The making of ether by the action of sulphuric acid on alcohol was known
in about the 13th century; and later Basil Valentine and Valerius Cordus
described its preparation and properties. The name ether appears to have
been applied to the drug only since the times of Frobenius, who in 1730
termed it _spiritus aethereus or vini vitriolatus_. It was considered to
be a sulphur compound, hence its name sulphur ether; this idea was
proved to be erroneous by Valentine Rose in about 1800. Ether is
manufactured by the distillation of 5 parts of 90% alcohol with 9 parts
of concentrated sulphuric acid at a temperature of 140 deg.-145 deg. C.,
a constant stream of alcohol being caused to flow into the mixture
during the operation. The distillate is purified by treatment with lime
and calcium chloride, and subsequent distillation. The mechanism of this
reaction was explained by A. Williamson in 1850. For other methods of
preparation see ETHERS.[1]
The presence of so small a quantity as 1% of alcohol may be detected in
ether by the colour imparted to it by aniline violet; if water or acetic
acid be present, the ether must be shaken with anhydrous potassium
carbonate before the application of the test. When heated with zinc
dust, it yields ethylene and water. Chromic acid oxidizes it to acetic
acid and ozone oxidizes it to ethyl peroxide. In contact with hydriodic
acid gas at 0 deg. C., it forms ethyl iodide (R.D. Silva, _Ber._, 1875,
8, p. 903), and with water and a little sulphuric acid at 180 deg. C.,
it yields alcohol (E. Erlenmeyer, _Zeit. f. chemie_, 1868, p. 343). It
forms crystalline compounds with bromine and with many metallic salts.
_Medicine._--For the anaesthetic properties of ether see ANAESTHESIA.
Applied externally, ether evaporates very rapidly, producing such
intense cold as to cause marked local anaesthesia. For this purpose it
is best applied as a fine spray, but ethyl chloride is generally found
more efficient and produces less subsequent discomfort. It aids the
absorption of fats and may be used with cod liver oil when the latter is
administered by the skin. If it be rubbed in or evaporation be
prevented, it acts, like alcohol and chloroform, as an irritant. Ten to
twenty minims of ether, subcutaneously injected, constitute perhaps the
most rapid and powerful cardiac stimulant known, and are often employed
for this purpose in cases of syncope under anaesthesia. Taken
internally, ether acts in many respects similarly to alcohol and
chloroform, but its stimulant action on the heart is much more marked,
being exerted both reflexly from the stomach and directly after its
rapid absorption. Ether is thus the type of a rapidly diffusible
stimulant. It is also useful in relieving the paroxysms of asthma. The
dose for repeated administration is from 10 to 30 minims and for a
single administration up to a drachm.
_Chronic Poisoning._--A dose of a little more than a drachm (a
teaspoonful) will produce a condition of inebriation lasting for
one-half to one hour, but the dose must soon be greatly increased. The
after-effects are, if anything, rather pleasant, and the habit of ether
drinking is certainly not so injurious as alcoholism. The principal
symptoms symptons of chronic ether-drinking are a weakening of the
activity of the special senses, and notably sight and hearing, a
lowering of the intelligence and a degree of general paresis (partial
paralysis) of motion.