EXPLOSIVE COMPOUND. (2 $9 



An objection may be made to the above reasoning and eon- An hypothesis 

 elusion, on the ground that we have not taken into consideration m ^ ^ "| ut C 

 the possibility of the explosive substance being a compound of and hydrogen 

 chlorine, azote, oxigen and hydrogen j and. k may be said, jK^fJJJjTSf 

 that the arguments for the exclusion of oxigen from the com- water. 

 pound, drawn from its action on ammonia, will lose all their 

 force if it is considered as a quaternary combination instead of 

 a ternary one ; because the oxigen and hydrogen in the com- 

 pound may be in the state of water 5 in which case neither of 

 them would appear in the gaseous state by the action of am- 

 monia, nor could the oxigen displace azote from that alkali. 



In answer to such an objection we have to observe, that the But this qua- 

 supposition that the explosive substance is a quaternary com- Jq™*^ is°not 

 pound of chlorine, azote, oxigen and hydrogen, being at pre- probable, 

 sent unsupported by experiment, we conceive that the fol- 

 lowing reasons will justify us for refusing to admit it. 



1st. It is not consistent with the cautious principles of phi- Reasons. 

 losophical reasoning to admit four elements in a compound, so p hii sopUi? 

 long as its properties and actions on other bodies are explicable sing, 

 by three. 



2d. From the known affinities of the four elements above- a. That such a 



mentioned, and from the proportions in which they must exist compound 



, , . , , ... would have dif- 



m the explosive compound on the supposition under con- f ercn t proper- 



sideration, we infer that they must be combined in '625 of a ties. 



grain of the explosive substance, in the following manner : 



grs. 



•372 chlorine t c . . . ., 



•Oil hy-lrogen j forming munatic acid, 



'773 azote 

 •083 oxigen. 



> forming nitrous gas, 



'076 oxigen 1 r 



•010 hydrogen j Arming water. 



•625 



In which case the characteristic properties of the compound 

 would be those of muriatic acid and of nitrous gas, and not 

 those of chlorine, which is contrary to the fact. 



Should, however, it be proved, by satisfactory experiments, But if expe- 



that the explosive substance contains oxigen, our statement of "ments should 



. establish such 

 ths 



