COMBINATIONS OF OXlMURlAT^li OAS AND OXIOEN. £3^ 



alterations will be necessary; and.\tisto be hope<1, tha^, 

 whenever they take place, they will be madle indebendeiif 



should express things, and not opinions ; and till a liody is decom- 

 posed, it should be consi('ered as simple. 



In the last nnnibcr of Mr. Nicholson's Journal, which appeared 

 , February 1st, while this sheet was correcting for the press, I have seen 

 an ingenious paper, by Mr. Murray, of l^diiiburgh, in which he has 

 attempted to show, that oximuiiatic g^as contains oxigen. His methods Supposed 4e^ 

 are, by detonating oximuiiatic gas in excess with a mixture of hi- composition «f 

 drogen, and gaseous oxide of carbon, when he supposes carbonic acid oximuriatjc 

 is formed; and by mixing oJiimuviafic gas in excess with sulphuretted ^^''^"I'l**^"-^* 

 hidrogen, when he stippofte/! siilphuric acid, or snlplmreoiis acid is 

 formed. In some experiments, in which my brother, Mr. John Davy, 

 was so good as to cooperate, made over boiled mercury, we found, 

 that 7 parts of hidrogen, 9 parts of gaseous oxide of carbon, and 20 

 parts of oximuriatic gas, exploded h'y the electric spark, diminished «'>33'-l04''i'^ 

 to about 30 measures ; and calonicl was formed on the sides of the tube. 

 On adding di-y ammonia jn excess, «nd exposing the remainder to 

 water, a gas remained, which equalled more than 9 measures, and which, 

 was gaseous pxide of carbon, with no move impurity than might be 

 expected from the air in thegasses, and the nitrogen expelled from th© 

 ammonia ; so that the oxigcn in Mr. Murray's carbonic acid, it seems, 

 was obtained from tcatery or from the carbonic oxide. Sulphuiettedf 

 hidrogen, added, over dry mercury, to oximuriatic gas in excess, irf- 

 flamcd in two or three experiments; muriatic acid gas, containing; 

 the vapour of oximuriate of sulphur, was formed, which, when neutral- 

 ized by ammonia, gave muriate of ammonia, andacop;ibiuation.-Qf:um-. 

 monia and oximuriate of sulphur. 



When a mixture of oximuriatic gas in excess, and sulphuretted hidro- 

 gen, was suffered to pa;xs into the atmosphere, the smell was thatof 

 oximuriate of sulphur ; there was not the slightest indication of tl|e 

 presence of any sulphuric or sulphureous acid. If Mr. Murray hu4 

 used ammonia, instead of water, for analyzing his i-esults, I do not 

 think he would have concluded, that oximuriatic gas is capable of 

 decomposition by such methods. 



I shall not, at present, enter upon a detail of other expcriracnlB, 

 which 1 have made on this subject, in cooperation with my brother, as 

 it is his i-.itention to refer to them, in an answer to Mr. Murray's paper. 



I «hall conclude, by saying^ that this ingenious chemist has mistaken 

 my views, in supposing them hypothetical J I merely state what I have 

 seen, and what I have found. There may be oxigen in oximuriatic 

 gas; but I can find none. I repeated Mr. Murray's experiments ^vith 

 great interest ; and their results, when Tto^er is excluded, entirely con- 

 firm all my ideas on the subject, and afford no support to the hypotheti- 

 cal ideas, which he has laboured so zealously to defend. 



of 



