Experiments to decompofe the Mwiatic Add, 20^ 



can be produced with certainty by the repetition of Dr. Frieftley's experiments, or fliould 

 it by any means be got pure from the nitrous etherized gas, my curiofity will excite me to 

 make it the objedl: of future refcarch ; otherwife, I muft confefs, I fliall feel more difpofcd 

 to profecute other chemical fubjefts : for, having reafon to think that the denfity of the 

 acid made a variation in the produdt of this gas, and having never found that any acid, 

 however denfe, produced an immediate explofion, I once poured 6 drams of concentrate 

 acid upon 50 grains of the powder. An explofion, nearly at the inftant of contadl, was 

 efFe£led : I was wounded feverely, and moft of my apparatus deftroyed. A quantity 

 moreover of the gas I had previoufly prepared, was loft by the inadvertency of a perfon 

 who went into my laboratory, whilft I was confined by the confequences of this difcou- 

 raging accident. i3ut, ftiould any one be defirous of giving the gas a further examination, 

 I again repeat, that as far as I am enabled to judge, it may with fafety be prepared, by 

 pouring 3 drams of fulphuric acid diluted with the fame quantity of water, upon 50 grains 

 of the powder, and then applying the flame of a candle until gas begins to be extricated. 

 The only attempt I have made to decompofe it, was by expofing it to copper and ammo- 

 niac } which, during feveral weeks, did not effeft the leaft alteration. 



(To be continued.) 



IV. 



Account 0/ a Series oj Experimtnls^ undertaken with the View of decompojing the Muriatic 



Acid. By Mr. WiL liam Heury*. 



Mc 



.ODERN chemiftry, notwithftanding its rapid advancement during the few laft years, 

 ftill prelents to its cultivators feveral interefting obje£ls, both of analytic and fynthetic in- 

 quiry. Among the former, the decompofition of the muriatic and of certain other acids, 

 holds a diftinguifhed place ; for our curiofity refpefting the nature of thefe bodies, is 

 flrongly excited, by the influence which the difcovery would have on the general do£trines 

 of chemical fcience, as well as on the explanation of individual fa£ts. The theory of the 

 formation of acids, for example, one of the moft important parts of the new fyftem of 

 chemiftry, muft be regarded as incomplete, and liable to fubverfion, till the individual 

 acids now alluded to have been refolved into their conftitucnt principles. To the beft of 

 my knowledge, however, we are not in pofleflion of a fingle faft that gives the fmalleft 

 infight into the conftitution of the muriatic acid ; and the attempts to effcQ. its analyfis, 

 can only therefore be direded by the analogy of the decompofition of other bodies, which, 

 from fimilarity of charafter, are arranged in the fame clafs. 



• Philof. Tranf. j8oo, page i«8. 

 Vol. IV — August 1800. E e One 



