96 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY 



mixture of asbestos and oxide of copper occupied a space of five inches 

 in length, but contained only two grammes of the oxide. At the close 

 of the combustion there was no appearance of chloride of copper, except 

 at the back end of the column, a space § of an inch in length. 



Results of the Analysis. — 0.1631 gramme of chloride of amyl gave 

 0.3383 of carbonic acid, 0.1557 of water, and 0.2157 of chloride of 

 silver. 



Calculated. Found. 



100. 99.798 



It can hardly have escaped observation, that the quantity of oxide of 

 copper or oxide of zinc required to absorb the chlorine by this process 

 is extremely small, in consequence of its being uniformly diffused 

 through a large mass of asbestos ; hence it is obvious that but little of 

 a solvent is needed to extract the chloride. In this respect the new 

 process bears a striking contrast to the old one, which involves the use 

 of a large quantity of lime, necessitating a corresponding quantity of 

 acid, and introducing disagreeable manipulation, which tend to in- 

 crease the liability to error. 



I have not yet tried the process recently described by Carius,* as 

 the difficulty which I had found in obtaining tubes that would bear the 

 pressure incident to his process for the determination of sulphur gave 

 no encouragement of better success in the use of his process for the 

 determination of chlorine, which is performed in a similar manner, 

 although more complicated. 



The advantage which my process affords, of being able to determine 

 the three elements carbon, hydrogen, and chlorine at a single combus- 

 tion, without the introduction of any difficult or hazardous manipula- 

 tion, induces the belief that it will be found preferable to any other 

 that has been devised. 



* Annalen der Chimie und Pharmacie. 



