WATER IN MURIATIC ACID GAS ? ()Q 



justly conclude 1, that if water was obtained from muriatic acid 

 Mt, by means of ammonia, its existence in the acid must be 

 admitted ; and that, on the contrary, if no water could be pro- 

 cured, it would be nnphilosophical to suppose water present ; 

 but that muriatic acid gas must be considered as a compound 

 of hydrogene and chlorine. Such were Mr. Murray's pre- 

 mises. 



The result of his experiment, he says, was the production Asserted fart 



- „ . . c . c , , ' , . t>y Mr. Miir- 



of water lrom the muriate or ammonia, formed by the union r^ that thr 



of the dry gases. He therefore, of course, concluded, that dry gases af- 

 muriatic acid gas is not a compound of chlorine and hydro- conch 



lusion, 



gene, but of water and an unknown basis (muriatic acid ;) that m. «. ga$ 



in fact, that the old doctrines respecting this substance, ^?* r *** * 



which he had strenuously defended before, are correct, and 



the new theory advanced by Sir H. Davy, erroneous. 



This experiment was also repeated on a very small scale at 



Liverpool, by Drs. Bostock and Traill, and with nearly the same 



result. 



But other results have been obtained. — Sir H. Davy has Sir H.Davy 



made the experiment several times, and under different circum- a f d the writer 



' obtained no 



stances ; and has uniformly pei ceived no water, when the at- water. 



mospheric air was excluded, and dry vessels, and dry gases were 

 employed • and my experience is agreeable to his, having been 

 unable to obtain any water the only time I repeated the expe- 

 riment, on subjecting the muriate to a heat not sufficient for 

 its sublimation, though water was procured by heating the 

 same salt, after it had been exposed to the atmosphere. 



It is not my object at present to attempt to reconcile these 

 contradictory results, or to show, by any process of reasoning or 

 criticism, that Mr. Murray has fallen into errour. It is my 

 intention to confine myself to the concise detail of new ex- 

 periments, which will tend, I trust, to decide the question. 



About two months since, when my brother, Sir H. Davy, Repetition of* 



wa3 in Edinburgh, he was desirous of repeating the experiment the experi- 



on the combination of muriatic acid and ammonia, with Dr. me ™ b * fore 



eminent men, 



Hope. The experiment was accordingly made in the College 

 Laboratory.— Sir George Mackenzie, Mr. Playfair, and some 

 other gentlemen, were present. 



The alkaline and acid gases employed, were pure, and both The amm ga» 

 had previously been dried by exposure, for about sixteen hours, was dned b * 



to 



