OW THE NATURE OF OXIMURIATIC ACID. "[QQ 



'^ — ."^.ni ^■^'■•(.rjiirr :..':'"'■ ■ :■ •> ■ 'r. v,:t v.- -; ■ 



crease in strength, until it equals or exceeds that of the 

 subitancie'attractirjtr it; when of course its abstraction must 

 cefe!^,"' |y,'f35l ^If thisstatement be correct, it necessarily proves that it, 

 toilows, that muriatic acid may exist as a i^as m ^o"^"^'"«- (ijfferent pwii ' 

 tion' with different proportions of water. On the suppo- ponions: 

 sit^on'that it doiels contain water, experience proves the 

 dontrary-^for the proportion of hidrogen gas produced from ^"' metais in 

 muriatic acid gas acted on by different metals is always the fr^^m i, ^Yiq 

 same, whether it has been exposed to the influence of drying same quantity 



salts! or not. I readilv admit, that muriatic acid gas has _ ^^ '"og®"- 



-.,.,. " » • /. Certain ga.^ses 



important relanons- to water, and a strong attraction lor haveimpor- 



this fluid ; so too has fluoboracic acid gas: but I cannot ^"^'^^ relations 



II ^7 1 1 • / 1 • • . , to water. 



allow the same relations and attraction to the muriatic acid 



of Mr. Muri^^y-^anhh aginary body, that I confess I am 



altogether* ignorant of. Moreover the strong affinity of^ 



muriatic acid gas for water is no more in favour of water . 



being one of the constituents of this gas, than the strong 



attraction of potassium and sodium for oxigen is for the 



existence of otigen in these metals. 



'When Mr. Davy concludes, that oximuriatic gas has Oxigen and 



rel'dtions similar to oxigen, 1 do not understand, that the gasTnaroeoss 



i?^pre$sioh implies an e^act similarity between the at- but notin^all 



tractions of these two substances, but merely a general ['^^P'^^*^^"^^^' 



analogy, such as the metals, or the inflammables have to 



^ach other, Which allows of their being classed together. Explanationof 



"■"If I nridy be permitted to o^ive my opinion, I should sav, "'^'"''*^^ ^^^^ 

 _^, ,. . / i. 'i , iiott(»beex- 



^e'nave no right to expect irom a theory the explanation of pecied iVom a 



'ultimate facts. And the fact in question (the want of action tlieory. 



bet'i^eehchtircoal aud oximnriatic gas,) is one of this kind. 



ft is one of those, which constitute as it were the axioms 



"of" th't science. For my own part I am glad, that it is 

 not tort « fed by hypothetical explanation. 



rjti»tll4avin^ti<*oasidered the reasons adduced by Mr. Murray Mr. Muifay*jj 

 for dissen tmg from Mr. Duvy^s theory, I shall proceed to 11^,^1^^^^^ 

 examine the results of the particular experiments, which 

 this g'^nthenrfart considers toore favourable to the old hypo-^ 



^ thesis than to the new views. ' 



Mr. Murray is of opinion, that the experiments of Mr. Conversion of 

 Gruickshank on the analysis of carburetted hidrogen gasses ami 'carburet 

 by oximuriatic gas are hostile to Mr. Davy's theory: as ted hidrogea 



wheo 



