On Chemical Disinfectants, 379 



Now, if we take the weight of the five atoms of sodium to 

 be (according to Dr. Thomson) = 15 and that of five 

 atoms of chlorine to be . = 22.50 



The resulting chloride of sodium r= 37.50 



while the weight of five atoms of oxygen, and that of one 



atom of chlorine to form chloric acid = 9.5 



And the one atom of soda to be . = 4 



The neutral chlorate will be . = 13.50 



Hence we find by the atomic theory, the results given by 

 actual experiments to correspond, with singular precision, with 

 the theoretical numbers : for 37.50 is to 13.50 as 73.53 is to 

 26.47, the respective weights of the chloride of sodium and 

 chlorate of soda in 100 grains found by actual analysis. 



Another striking proof of the precision of that analysis, is 

 derived from the consideration of the prodigious quantity of 

 chlorine which enters into the composition of this disinfecting 

 liquid. 



One hundred grains of the mixed salt constituted, as shown 

 by the preceding experiments and atomic proportions, contain 

 52.94 grains of chlorine, corresponding to 69.43 cubic inches 

 of that gas ; consequently, as 725 grains of that mixed salt 

 were obtained from twenty ounces of Labarraque's liquid, ac- 

 cording to experiment A., it follows that 503.36 cubic inches 

 of chlorine must have been absoi^bed to form them. 



But, as 572.66 cubic inches of that gas were actually 

 thrown into the twenty ounces of liquid ; the difference can 

 only be accounted for by supposing that some of the gas was 

 held in a free state in the solution ; and it is curious to remark 

 that the difference in question (amounting to 69.30 cubic 

 inches) is precisely double the bulk of the water employed in 

 preparing the liquid, — a fact which, while it agrees perfectly 

 with the received notion of the absorbing power of water with re- 

 spect to chlorine, serves, at the same time, to confirm that notion. 



Now, the 503.36 cubic inches of chlorine employed to form 

 the 725 grains of the mixed chloride of sodium and chlorate 

 of $oda in the twenty ounces of liquid, weigh, according to 

 Dr. Thomson's tables, 383.815 grains, while the soda so em- 

 ployed, according to the atomic theory, weighs 341.185 grains. 



2C 2 



