EXPLOSIVE COMPOUND. 28? 



c. inches. 

 Weight of -2447 of azotic gas (Biot and 



Arrago) .. .. '0735 of a grain, 



Do. of '4()44 of chlorine gas fGay Lus- 



sac and Thenard) '3724 of do. 



Total "4459 of do. 



Here, then, we have a deficiency of '179 1 or * a » ram > f° r are less than 

 which we must account either by concluding that our analysis ^^ ole 

 is inaccurate, or that the explosive compound contains some 

 other constituent part besides azote and chlorine. 



But from having repeated our analysis several times, we are j5 nt as tne ana . 

 convinced, that it is free from errors of any consequence : lpis was accu- 

 we, therefore, conclude, that azote and chlorine are not the ' 

 sole constituents of the explosive compound. 



What other, then, does it contain ? To answer this question t]je compolin( | 

 we must first consider what others it can possibly contain, and must have 

 we shall find that no others, excepting oxigen or hydrogen, component 

 can possibly enter into its composition, because, in the simplest 

 cases of its formation, no other bodies are present than chlo- 

 rine, azote, oxigen, and hydrogen. 



Now, if it contained oxigen as a third substance, the results wn i c fc d oes 

 of the decomposition of the compound by ammonia, would be »ot appear to 

 different from what we find them 3 for, in that process, the e oxl S en > 

 oxigen must either assume the gaseous form, which it does 

 not 3 or, if it be supposed to form water with the hydrogen of 

 the ammonia, then it must displace five times more azotic gas 

 than chlorine would, because any given weight of oxigen com- 

 bines with five times more hydrogen than the same weight of 

 chlorine does. Instead, therefore, of collecting too little azotic 

 gas, we should have had a very considerable excess. 



The supposition, therefore, that oxigen is the third substance 

 contained in the explosive compound, is, in the highest degree, 

 improbable, and inconsistent with the results of our experi- 

 ments. 



It must, therefore, be hydrogen whicli is the third substance, but hydrogen. 



But in whatever proportion the hydrogen may exist in the Deduction 

 compound, it must, by combining with a certain portion of _ tnat t,ie h y; 

 the chlorine in that compound, neutralise the decomposing iJcombinaTioH 



action 



