1 72 Dr. Kolbe's Contributions to the 



merely at a red heat but at ordinary temperatures, in daylight 

 as well as in the dark. This perchloride of carbon is identi- 

 cal with Regnault's " ether chlorhydrique de Vesprit de bois 

 perchlorure" and may he obtained with ease from the chloride 

 of carbon. Perchloride of carbon does not enter into direct 

 combinations, but it unites with sulphurous acid when both 

 are in a nascent state, and forms conjugate, neutral, indiffer- 

 ent bodies, which Berzelius and Marcet discovered when they 

 digested sulphuret of cai'bon with moistened chlorine or nitric 

 acid*. I call this white, volatile, crystallized compound sul- 

 phite of perchloride of carbon, C Clg SO2. It may be ob- 

 tained in large quantities by digesting peroxide of manganese 

 and hydrochloric acid for several days in a close vessel with 

 sulphuret of carbon, and after the decomposition is complete 

 distilling the mixture. Its formation is explained by the fol- 

 lowing formula, — 



Sulphite of perchloride of carbon suspended in water is re- 

 duced by chloride of tin, sulphuretted hydrogen, or sulphurous 

 acid, and converted with the loss of one equivalent of chlorine 

 into sulphite of chloride of carbon, C CI SOg, a colourless, 

 inodorous, and very unstable combination, soluble in water 

 and alcohol. The solution in water is decomposed upon ex- 

 posure to the air, combining with one equivalent of oxygen, 

 forming oxide of chloride of carbon and sulphurous acid. 

 Chlorine occasions a precipitate of regenerated sulphite of 

 perchloride of carbon. Bromine also produces a similar in- 

 soluble combination, which will be the subject of a future ex- 

 amination. Iodine occasions no precipitate. The behaviour 

 of sulphite of perchloride of carbon towards the caustic alka- 

 lies gives rise to a series of conjugate hyposulphates, which 

 have the greatest similarity to one another, although their con- 

 junctives, by which they are alone distinguished, are bodies 

 of quite a different chemical nature. The acids thus produced 

 do not show the slightest similarity to sulphurous acid; the 

 chemical properties of the latter are upon formation of the 

 conjoined bodies completely changed, and they have obtained 

 properties and a power of combination which place them by 

 the side of the strongest inorganic acids. The first of these 

 combinations is hyposulphate of chloride of carbon, HO+Cg 

 CI3, S2 O5. It contains as a conjunct perchloride of carbon, 

 and is formed together with chloride of potassium when the 

 sulphite of perchloride of carbon is dissolved in caustic potash. 

 The potash salt crystallizes after evaporation of the neutral 

 * Berzelius's Chemistry, i. p. Q22. 



