202 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



o 

 HO with Mn + ( O), part of MuO is associated to MnO, another part to 



o 



O, water being eliminated, according to the equation 



2(Muo, HO) + MnO + ( O) == MuO, MnO + MuO, ( U) + 2HO. 



As you will easily perceive from these views, it would follow that, under 

 proper circumstances, two opposite peroxides, on being intimately mixed 

 together, and in the right proportion, and acted upon by muriatic acid, could 

 yield neither chlorine nor peroxide of hydrogen, but merely inactive oxy- 

 gen. If somewhat dilute muriatic acid be poured upon an intimate mixture 

 of five parts of peroxide of barium and two parts of peroxide of manga- 

 nese, the whole will be rapidly transformed into the muriates of baryta and 

 protoxide of manganese, the active oxygen of both the peroxides being dis- 

 engaged in the inactive condition, and not a trace of free chlorine making 

 its appearance. The same result is obtained from dilute hydrobromic acid. 



Another consequence of my hypothesis is this : that an intimate and cor- 

 rectly-proportioned mixture of two opposite peroxides, such as the peroxide 

 of barium and that of lead, on being acted upon by any oxy-acid, cannot 

 produce the peroxide of hydrogen; or, to express the same thing in other 

 terms, muriatic acid must act upon the said mixture exactly in the same 

 way as the ox)'-acids do; and that is indeed the case. Mixtures of the per- 

 oxides just mentioned and acetic or nitric acids, are readily converted into 

 the acetates or nitrates of baryta and protoxide of manganese, the active 

 oxygen of both the peroxides being of course disengaged in the inactive 

 condition. 



Before I close my long story, I must mention one fact more, which, in my 

 opinion, is certainly a very curious one. If you mix an aqueous and con- 

 centrated solution of bromine with a sufficient quantity of peroxide of 

 hydrogen, what happens? A very lively disengagement of inactive oxygen 

 takes place, the color and the odor of the bromine solution disappears, the 

 liquid becomes sour, and on adding seme aqueous chlorine to it, bromine 

 reappears. From hence we are allowed to conclude, that, on bringing bro- 

 mine into contact with peroxide of hydrogen, some so-called hydrobromic 

 acid is produced. The hypothesis at present prevailing cannot account lor 

 the formation of that acid, otherwise than by admitting that bromine takes 

 up the hydrogen of IIo2, eliminating the two equivalents of oxygen united 

 to H. I, of course, take another view of the case : bromine is to me an 

 ozonid, like peroxide of lead, etc., i. e., the peroxide of bromium = BrO + 



f U). Now HO + (+ O) and BrO + ( O) catalyze each other into HO, 

 BrO, and inactive oxygen, BrO + HO forming hydrobromic acid, or what 

 might more properly be called hydrate of bromiatic acid. 



It will be perceived that I am growing more and more hardened in my 

 heretical notions, or, to speak more correctly, in my orthodox views ; for it 

 was Davy who acted the part of a heretic in overthrowing the old, venerable 

 true creed. Indeed, the longer I compare the new and old doctrine on the 

 nature of chlorine, etc., with the whole material of chemical facts bearing 

 upon them, the less I am able to conceive how Davy could so lightly and 

 slightly handle the heavy weight of analogies which, in my opinion, speak 

 so very strongly and decisively in favor of Berthollet's views. There is no 

 doubt Sir Humphrey was a man of great genius, and consequently very 

 imaginative; but I am almost inclined to believe that, by a certain wanton- 

 ness, or by dint of that transcendent faculty of his mind, he was seduced to 

 conjure up a theory intended to be as much out of the wav and " invraisem- 



