Acidum Sulphuricum Quam Vim in Alkoholem Exerceat (...) Dissertatio
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Latin chemistry dissertation on sulphuric acid, alcohol, and ether.
Mertens, J. A.
Acidum Sulphuricum Quam Vim in Alkoholem Exerceat (...) Dissertatio
Quaeque et Hinc Prodeuntium et Similium Compositionum Natura Sit et Constitutio.
1838, Lipsiae (Leipzig), Fr. Nies.
First Edition
Overview
Submitted in 1838 at the University of Halle and Wittenberg, this Latin Dissertatio pro Venia Docendi (dissertation to ask for permission to teach) belongs to an academic milieu in which chemistry was becoming increasingly quantitative while still testing the language and classification of newly observed substances. The author reflects on experiments on the action of sulphuric acid on alcohol, ether, and compound formation. The dissertation treats the reaction not as an isolated laboratory phenomenon but as a problem of constitution, analogy, and systematic comparison. Its effort to group related compounds into ordered series exemplifies the period’s drive to impose coherence upon reactions that would prove central to nineteenth-century organic chemistry. In this sense, it stands as a characteristic product of a time when university disputations could serve as concise vehicles for original argument, here preserved in the fragile form of an academic pamphlet.
Inside the book
The work, including chemical formulae, is structured around four principal subjects: acidum aetherosulphuricum, oleum dulce vini, aether, and gas oleum faciens. It reviews earlier theories, incorporates observation, and treats the sulphuric acid–alcohol reaction quantitatively. The opening section examines ethylsulphuric acid and its analogues, developing a systematic series that includes compounds such as Acidum Aetherophosphoricum, Aetheroarsenicicum, Aetherotartaricum, Aetheroxalicum, and others, with further consideration of acidum selenicum and related analogies. Subsequent sections address the formation of sweet oil of wine, the conversion of alcohol into ether, including Mitscherlich’s interpretation, and the temperature-dependent production of ether, water, and ethylene. The dissertation records Mertens as respondent, with adversaries R. Abibell and C. Falck, and notes the public defence held at 10 o’clock on 18 August 1838 in the Academic Hall.
Why La Fenice chose it
A debate on sulphuric acid, alcohol, and ether - poised between alchemy and system - in the fragile form of a dissertation for a teaching post.
Condition Report
Pp. [6], 38, [4].
Bound without covers, in green modern tape. Ex libris of Dr. Bassermann-Jordan to the verso of the title page, Corners worn; minor tears at the bottom ones. First and final leaves somewhat darkened.
Dimensions (inches): 8 1/4 x 5 x 1/4
About the author
J. A. Mertens, 19th-century respondent in a Halle-Wittenberg chemical dissertation of 1838.