TRANSACTIONS OP THE SECTIONS. f)S 



two proportions of carbon and one of hydrogen, and may be represented 

 by the formula C" + H' or 2 C + H, and differs in constitution, the au- 

 thor presumes, from that of any other known compound of carbon and 

 hydrogen. 



From the brilliancy with "which the new gas bums in contact with 

 the atmosphere, it is, in the opinion of the author, admirably adapted 

 for the purposes of artificial light if it can be procured at a cheap rate. 



A more detailed account of the properties and relations of the new 

 gas, and of the experiments on which the foregoing statements are 

 founded, probably will shortly appear either in the Transactions of the 

 Royal Dublin Society or of the Royal Irish Academy. 



Professor Davy made the new gas, and illustrated some of its most 

 striking properties, at the Scientific Meeting of the Royal Dublin So- 

 ciety last March. 



Notice of a peculiar Compound of Carbon and Potassium, or Carburet of 

 Potassium, SiC By Edmund Davy, F.R.S., M.R.I.A., 8,0., Pro- 

 fessor of Chemistry to the Royal Dublin Society. 



In January last the author made different experiments to obtain the 

 metal of potash on a large scale, by exposing to a high temperature in 

 an iron bottle a mixture of previously ignited tartar and charcoal pow- 

 der, in proportions of the latter varying from about iV *" tV °^ ^^^ 

 whole mass. In one experiment a substance was obtained of a dark 

 grey colour, rather soft to the knife, though adhering with great tena- 

 city to the iron and inclining to a granular structure. This substance, 

 when thrown into water, decomposes it with great facility, carbona- 

 ceous matter is disengaged and gas copiously evolved, with occasional 

 inflammations on the surface, as is commonly the case with potassium 

 under similar circumstances. The gas when examined was found to 

 consist of hydrogen, and the new compound of carbon and hydrogen 

 (noticed in a separate communication), in nearly equal volumes. The 

 author regards this substance as a mixture of potassium and carburet of 

 potassium ; the former by its action on water furnishing the hydrogen, 

 and the latter the new gas. In collecting gas from this substance by 

 the action of water over mercury a novel and interesting case of com- 

 bustion was observed. A little of the substance being placed at the 

 end of a tube filled with mercury, on letting up a few drops of water 

 gas was copiously disengaged, and as the mercuiy descended along the 

 tube small portions of the substance became ignited, exhibiting the ap- 

 pearance of bright sparks of fire in continual succession. 



In another experiment with the iron bottle no potassium was ob- 

 tained, but a small quantity of a substance partly in powder and partly 

 in small lumps of a dense black colour, which the author considers car- 

 buret of potassium, probably in a purer state than has yet been de- 

 scribed. 



This carburet exhibits no appearance of crystallization to the naked 

 eye, but when viewed with a glass of high magnifying power the au- 



