38 Mr. Richard Phillips on the [Jan. 



In Dr. Thomson's System of Chemistry, I do not meet with 

 any detailed opinion on the subject, lie states, however, that 

 ^' chloriile of antimony is decomposed when mixed with water, 

 white oxide of antimony, and muriatic acid, being formed." — 

 (Vol. i. p. 584.) In treating of the muriates generally, he refers 

 vthem to the chlorides, and of muriate of barytes he says, " this 

 salt hkewise will be found under the name of chloride of 

 ^barium ; " and he states that the " crystals of chloride gradually 

 deposit." From this it would appear that the crystalline salt 

 tisually termed muriate of barytes is considered by Dr. Thomson 

 to be a chloride ; and in the Annals for November last he consi- 

 ders chloride of barium as converted into muriate of barytes by 

 solution in water. 



Mr. Brande in his Manual (p. 174), describing the properties 

 of metallic chlorides, observes, that " some are soluble, others 

 insoluble, in water. Several of them decompose water, giving 

 me to the formation of muriatic acid and an oxide ; or in some 

 cases to a muriate." Mr. Brande has not, I think, pointed out 

 instances of the production of these different effects, but from 

 his stating that chloride of potassium dissolves without decom- 

 position in water, it would appear that he considers it to remain 

 a chloride in solution. Mr. Brande, however, states distinctly 

 that " when chloride of manganese is dissolved in water, it 

 produces muriate of manganese." The chloride and perchloride 

 of iron produce also he admits muriate and permuriate of iron 

 when acted upon by water, and he allows similar decomposition 

 of water, and the consequent formation of oxide and muriatic 

 acid, to the chlorides of zinc, tin, copper, and antimony. 



M. Thenard in the first edition of his Traite de Chiraie (1816) 

 -states, without any reserve, that " all chlorurets, when dissolv- 

 ing in water, decompose it, and become hydrochlorates : they 

 thus efiect the decomposition of water in the same way as the 

 iodurets, and the two principles of the water, the oxygen and the 

 hydrogen, unite ; the first with the metal, and the second with 

 the chlorine." In the second edition of this work (1817), 

 M. Thenard maintains the same opinion : he states, however, 

 several of the difficulties which attend both opinions. 



M. Gay-Lussac, on the other hand, in his memoir on iodine 

 j^Annals, vol. v. p. 125), observes, " We ought then to admit it 

 as a certain fact, that the muriates are all changed into chloru- 

 rets, when melted, or even when dried, and some of them even 

 by being crystallized. We may suppose, as we have done for 

 the iodurets, that the chlorurets dissolve in water without 

 xindergoing decomposition, and that when we unite hydrochloric 

 ^cid with an oxide, the hydrogen of the acid, and the oxygen of 

 the oxide form water. Whether this be the case or not, nothing 

 but chlorurets exist at a red heat." In subsequent parts of the 

 same memoir, M. Gay-Lussac says, " I beheve that according 

 t6 the nature of the substance with which the chlorine is com- 

 bined, the chlorurets may dissolve in water without undergoing 



