200 



nplaiul separated it from the Tippecanoe Valley. Later, after Moot's Creek 

 had .swung- to the west side of its valley, the Tippecanoe by its westward 

 meander removed the dividing strip, thns forming the present gap. 



The Action of IIydro(}en Peroxide on Cuprous Chloride. 

 W. M. Blanohard. 



This investigation was snggested by the resnlts obtained in the study 

 of the action of large volumes of water on cuprous chloride. Some time 

 ago my attention was called to the fact that when a large volume of water 

 is added to cuprous chloride the salt becomes orange colored. If this water 

 is removed and a second quantity added the color of the salt deepens, and 

 if this operation is carried on long enough, a few days being sufficient if 

 the water is changed every few hours, the salt finally becomes a bright 

 i*ed and in all respects resembles cuprous oxide. Upon analysis the com- 

 pound proved to he almost pure cupi-ous oxide. 



A search through the literature at command was made but no such 

 action as this was found I'ecorded. A careful study of the reaction was 

 then made. It was at first believed that the reaction took place according 

 to this equation: 



CU2CI2 + H2O = Cu^O 4 2 HOI. 



It seemed that the first water added resulted in the conversion of a 

 part of the cuprous chloride into cuprous oxide and hydrocloric acid and 

 that no further change took place luitil this acid was removed, and more 

 water added. But further investigation showed that this was not correct. 

 The water removed was found to contain cupric chloride; this salt could 

 be produced in this case only by oxidation, and the oxidation could result 

 in all probability only from oxygen dissolved- in the water. 



By properly constructed apparatus it was shown that water which 

 had been previously boiled for an hour and cooled in a current of hydro- 

 gen produced no change on cuprous chloride. 



About this time I had access to Dammer's Handbook of Inorganic 

 Chemistry and there I found a reference to this very reaction. It was 

 expressed by the following equation: 



2 CU2CI2 + O = CU2O + 2 CuCl^. 



