On a new fulminating Mercury, tyj 



VII. 



On a New Fulminating Mercury. By Edward Howard, Efq. F.R.S*. 



S E C T I O N I. 



A HE mercurial preparations which fulminate, when miKcd with fulphur, and gradually 

 expofed to a gentle heat, are well known to chemifts : they were difcovcred, and have been 

 fully defcribed, by Mr. Bayen f. 



M M. Brugnatelli and Van Mons have likewife produced fulminations by concuffion, as 

 well with nitrate of mercury and phofphorus, as with phofphorus and moll other nitrates %. 

 Cinnabar likewife is amongft the fubftances which, according to MM. Fourcroy and 

 Vauquelin, detonate by concuffion with oxymuriate of pot-a(h § . 



Mr. Ameilon had, according to Mr. Berthollet, obferved, that the precipitate obtained 

 from nitrate of mercury by oxalic acid, fufes with a hifling noife ||, 



SECTION IL 



But mercury, and mofl if not all its oxides, may, by treatment with nitric acid and 

 alcohol, be converted into a whitifli cryftallized powder, pofleffing all the inflammable 

 properties of gunpowder, as well as many peculiar to itfelf. 



I was led to this difcovery, by a late aflertion, that hydrogen is the bafis of the muriatic 

 acid : it induced me to attempt to combine different fubftances with hydrogen and oxygen. 

 With this view, I mixed fuch fubftances with alcohol and nitric acid, as 1 thought might 



* Philof. Tranf. 1800, p. 20f. 



•f- Opufcules Chimiques de Bayen, torn. i. p. 346, anJ note in p. 344. 



J Amtales de Chimie, torn, xxvii. p. 74. and 79. (or this Journal, II. 462.}- 



§ Ibid. torn. xxi. p. 138. (or this Journal, I. 168.) 



H This faft has been mifreprefented, in the introduftion to a work intitled The Chemical Principles oi 

 the Metallic Arts, by W. Richardfon, Surgeon, F.A.S- Sc. (page Ivii.) The author, fpeaking of the 

 acid of forrel, fays, " Klaproth of Berlin precipitated a nitrous fohition of mercury with acid of wood- 

 •• forrel, neutralized with vegetable alkali. The white precipitate, well walhed and dried, produced a ful- 

 *' minating noife, not inferior to that of fulminating gold. Acid of fugar, perfeflly neutralized by'vege- 

 " table alkali, produced the fame precipitate, which, on expofure to heat, exhibited the fame fulminating 

 '• power." I muft confefs, I have not been able to produce any fuch fulmination. Mr. Richardfon has 

 moreover given this fuppofed difcoVery to Mr. Klaproth ; whereas, Mr. Berthollet, when quoting the faft 

 to which I fuppofe Mr. Richardfon intended to allude, obferves, " Qu'on avoit deja donne le nora d'argent 

 " fulminant au precipite du nitrate d'argent par I'acide oxalique, dans lequel M. Klaproth avoit decouvert 

 *' la propriete <le fufer avec vivacite lorfqu'on I'expofe a la chaleur. M. Ameilon avoit audi, depuis 

 " longtems, fait connoitre que I'acide oxalique communiquoit cette propriete au mercure, quoique moins 

 " fortement qu'a I'argent ; mais cet effet (he continues) eft fort tloigne de celui qu'on dcfigne par la 

 " fulmination." Annates de Cbimie, torn, i. p. 57. 



2 (by 



