62 



SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS 



VOL. 54 



Edgar's ' syntheses of h^alrochloric acid resembled those of Dixon and 

 Edgar, so far as the preparation and weighing of the initial substances 

 were concerned. The chlorine was then burned in the hydrogen, at 

 the end of a quartz tip, and the hydrochloric acid so produced was con- 

 densed to solid form by means of liquid air. It was afterwards allowed 

 to evaporate, and passed through a quartz tube filled with mercury 

 vapor, which removed any free chlorine. The purified hydrochloric acid 

 was finally condensed, either in a steel bomb or by absorption in water, 

 and weighed. The corrected weights and ratios are subjoined : 



Mean, 35.194, 36.193, 



± .0008 ± .0009 



Upon reducing the HCl : H ratios to the CI : H form the five sets of 



determinations combine thus : 



Dixon and Edgar, H : CI 35.195, ± .0019 



Noyes and Weber, H:C1 35.1843, ± .0014 



Noyes and Weber, H:HC1 35.1835, ± .0013 



Edgar, H : CI 35.194, ± .0008 



Edgar, H : HCl 35.193, ± .0009 



General mean, 35.1911, ± .00049 



M'roc. Roy. Soc, SIA, 216. 190S. 



