94^ iRxperimtnis lo decempofe the Muriatic Add. 



them. It may fpare therefore to others, a fruitlefs application of time qnd trouWe, to be 

 made acquainted with what I have done ; and the collateral fafts, which have prefcnted 

 themfelves in the inquiry, are perhaps not without curiofity or value. 



From the refull of thefe experiments, I apprehend, all hope muft be rellnqui(hed, of 

 effe£ting the decompofition of the muriatic acid, in the way of fingle eleftive affinity* 

 They furnifli alfo a ftrong probability, that the bafis of the muriatic acid is fome unknown 

 body ; for, no combuftible fubftancc with which we are acquainted, can retain oxygen, 

 when fubmitted, In contact with charcoal, to the aQion of eledtricity, or of a high tem- 

 perature. The analyfis of this acid rauft, in future, be attempted with the aid of com- 

 plicated affinities. Thus, in the mafterly experiment of Mr. Tennant, phofphorus, which 

 attradls oxygen lefs ftrongly than charcoal, by the intermediation of lime decompofes the 

 carbonic acid. Yet, led by the analogy of this faft, its difcoverer found that a (imilar artifice 

 did not fucceed in decompofing the muriatic acid. " As vital air," he obferves, " is at- 

 *' trafted by a compound of phofphorus and calcareous earth, more powerfully than by 

 •' charcoal, I was defirous of trying their efficacy upon thofe acids which may from 

 ** analogy be fuppofed to contain vital air, but which are not affedled by the application of 

 ** charcoal. With this intention, I made phofphorus pafs through a compound of marine 

 « acid and calcareous earth, and alfo of fluor acid and calcareous earth, but without pro- 

 ** ducing in either of them any alteration. Since the ftrong attraftion which thefe acids 

 •' have for calcareous earth tends to prevent their decompofition, it might be thought, 

 •' that in this manner they were not more difpofed to part with vital air than by the attrac- 

 ** tion of charcoal : but this, however, does not appear to be the faft. I have found, that 

 ** phofphorus cannot be obtained by paffing marine acid through a compound of bones 

 ** and charcoal when red-hot. The attra6lion, therefore, of phofphorus and lime for vital 

 "air, exceeds the attra£lion of charcoal, by a greater force than that arifing from the 

 ** attradion of marine acid for lime •." 



By means Cmilar to thofe employed in attempting the analyfis of the muriatic 

 acid, I tried to effe£i that of the fluoric acid. When eledlrified alone, in a glafs 

 tube coated internally with wax, it fuftained a diminution of bulk, and there re- 

 mained a portion of hydrogenous gas. But, neither in this mode, nor by fubmitting 

 It, mixed with carbonated hydrogenous gas, to the a£lion of eleftricity, was any pro- 

 grefs made towards its analyfis. Thefe experiments, however, render it probable, that 

 the fluoric acid, like the muriatic, is fufceptible of ftill farther oxygenation, in which ftate 

 it becomes capable of afting on mercury. The carbonic acid, on the contrary, appears 

 not to admit of two different degrees cf oxygenation. When the ele£lric fliock has been 

 repeatedly paflfed through a portion of this acid gas, its bulk is enlarged, and a permanent 



• Phil. Tranf. vol. LXXI. p. i»4. 



gas 



