54 Dr. Kane on the Compounds of Ammonia. 



Iigcl-\- 6 HO 



and other cases, of which the chloride of hydrogen is the most remarkable. 



When water is saturated with muriatic acid gas, the solution being kept at 

 the temperature of 32° F., it acquires a specific gravity of 1.2109, and then 

 contains in 100 parts 42.43 of gas, by Edmund Davy's determination. If the 

 water be retained only at 60" the absorption does not proceed so far, the specific 

 gravity reaching only about 1.192, and the liquor containing only 38.38 of 

 chloride of hydrogen in the 100. Thompson found the strongest liquid acid to 

 be 1.203, and to contain 40.66 per cent, of gas. Now, if we calculate the num- 

 ber of equivalents of water which these results indicate as combining with one 

 of chloride of hydrogen, we shall find 



In the acid of 1.2109 . -- = ^- and IM = 5.5 



HO 49.4 9 



In the acid of 1.192 . — = — '■ — and — '— = 6.5 



HO 58.5 9 



T ^u -J n or>o c/h 36.42 ,53.15 _ _. 



In the acid of 1.203 — = ——- and = 5.91 



HO 53.15 9 



Scarcely any doubt can remain, therefore, that in the strongest liquid muriatic 

 acid, the chloride of hydrogen combines with six equivalents of water, and that it 

 is hence analogous to 



ca.cl-\-6H0 

 and to zncl-\- 6zno. 



This strong hydrated chloride of hydrogen cannot be heated without escape 

 of gas, and if it be distilled, the boiling point gradually rises until it reaches 

 230° F. ( 1 10° C.) when it ceases to change, and the liquid subsequently distils un- 

 altered. If a weaker acid be distilled, it loses water until the boiling point rises 

 to the same degree, when acid of the same strength distils, as in the former 

 instance. This acid, with a constant boiling point, has a specific gravity of 1.094, 

 and contains 19.19 per cent, of real acid by Davy's estimate, and 20.44 by 

 Thompson's ; hence the proportion is, taking the mean of their results, 



E^ = 1_M2 = ?6^ and i£^ = 16.35. 

 HO 80.18 147.3 9 



