ON THE OXIDES OF lEON, l^J 



the three species of oxide he admits, without attempting 



to determine their proportion of oxigen. 



The celebrated author of the System of Chemical Know- Proportions 



11 • r • assigned br 



ledge, tourcroy, announces, that the proportions ot oxigen, jro^.croy, 



deduced from the experiments of the illustrious Lavoisier, 



are, for the|oxicIule, from 25 to 2? parts of oxigen to 100 of 



iron ; ard for the oxide, from 40 to 49*« 



Prou. vlio has defended with so much acumen two de- Pfoust, 

 grees of saturation of iron only, the one at a minimum, 

 the other at a.maximuraf, carries the quantity of oxigen 

 in the former as far as 28 to 100 of iron, in the latter to 

 48. 



Mr. Bucholz, a German chemist of deserved reputa* and Buchsls. 

 tion, who has lately attempted to determine the propor- 

 tion of oxigen in the two degrees of oxidation^, states the 

 minimum proportion of oxigen at 30 to 100 of metal, and 

 the maximum at 42. 



Frorri this diversity of opinion on the degrees of oxida- The diversity 



tion, and the proportions of oxigen in the different oxides, betweeri"them 



b»Btvveen chemists Equally celebrated for their skill and their led to tlie fol- 



precision in analysis, I conceived it might be of use to pive "^^'"f ^^'^' 

 r « » o t) mination ot 



a succinct account of the attempts that have been rnade what has bfea 

 to solve this question, which is of essential importance to "^^"f '^'^ ^^'* 

 chemists. This is the only motive, that has led rrie to pub- 

 lish the following abstract of the experiments that "have 

 been undettakei^, to attain a knowledge of the oxide of 

 iron, and determine its different degrees of oxidation. 



Of the methods of oxiding or disoxiding iron, by means principal me- 

 of which the proportions of oxigen, that combine with ihodsemploy- 

 this metal, may be determined, the six following are the ij^j^, 

 principal that have been employed : 1st, oxidation by the 

 action of air and heat: 2d, the reduction of oxides of iron,\ 

 either by the action of heat alone, by that of heat and 



* Syst. de Conn, chim, torn. VI, p. ICO and foil. English transl. p. 

 214andfol. 



t Ann. die Chim. torn. XXIII, p. 85. Joxirnal de Phys. 1804, torn, 

 II, p. 33. 



J Jour, flier die Chcm. and Phys. Berlin, No. 12, p. 696. and fob : 

 Journ des Mines, No. 131, p. 361 andfol. : or our Jvurnal, yo1.XXV» 

 p. 353. 



carboDy 



