14^ , ON THE NATURE OF OXIMURIATtC ACID. 



difficulty ; for there is no evidtfnce of the formation of such 

 a cum pound from any phenomena, which attend the expen- 

 and In great merit. This objection too was in a great measurw obviated by 

 ated ' introducing into the electric fluid, previous to the admission 



of water, a sHp of dry litmus paper: it instantly received a 

 bright red tinge, a proof of the production ©f acid. 

 The experi- ^" making these experiments I was assisted by my friend 



men ts often Mr. Ellis ; they were often repeated, and every attention 

 peated vrUh ^^*^* P^''^ ^® ensure accuracy. The carbonic oxide was ob- 

 similar resnlts. tained first from dry chalk and zinc filings ; and'lest this 

 should contain a little hid rogen, which might be a source 

 of errour,^ more particularly in the experiment of the slow 

 action of the gasses, it was afterward prepared fron^ native 

 carbonate of barytes and iron filings. The oxirauriatic acid 

 was prepared from mruriatic sicid and oxi»mnriate of potuijh. 

 The influence of Jight in promoting the action of the oxi- 

 rnuriatic acid on the inflammable gasses was strictly attend- 

 ed tOy the mixture in the ditferent experiments being always 

 exposed for tiie same lengtli of time to the clear li^ht of day, 



u „ From these experiments there appears to be sufficient 



Hence "we r ... 



have sufficient evidence of the existence of oxigcn in oximuriatic acid; 

 ?he^*^x*^*t ^^ ^"^ ^ "^^5" reu^ark, that carbonic oxide is peculiarly calcu- 

 ©f oxigen in lated to afford this evidence without that ambiguity, which 



oxmiuriutic attends the action of oximuriatic acid on other inflammable 

 acid, . " . . 



substances, as in these the substance which is formed enters 



into combination with the muriatic iOcid, andthe nature of 



these compounds becomes the subject of hypothesis. In 



the aciion of oximuriatic acid on potassium, for example, 



•a substance is formed, which according to the common 



theory is a compound of oxide of potassium (potash) with 



muriatic acid ; but which, according to the opposite hypo- 



tliesis, is a compound of oximuriatic acid and potassium : 



and it is not easy to submit it to any experiment, from 



which H may be determined which of these vievys is just. 



But in the case of carbonic oxide, the muriatic acid, having 



no great attraction to the product, does not combine with 



It; its nature therfore is discovered, and the obvious pro- 



«fuction of it from the carbonic oxide proves, that oxigen 



must have been communicated, a«d that it could be so only 



from the oximuriatic acid. 



In 



