THE BLEACHING COMPOUNDS OF CHLORINE. 301 



the chlorous acid which I have been describing, tliese two bodies would 

 afford a fresh example of isomerism. But the recent labours of M. Sou- 

 beii'an ha^'e rendered it extremely probable that this supposed protoxide 

 is merely a mixture of chlorine and deutoxide of chlorine, which had 

 long been suspected by chemists on account of the peculiar condensation 

 of its elements. 



This composition of chlorous acid differs, it will be observed, very much 

 from that which had previously been assigned to it by chemists. On, 

 account of the impossibility of directly analysing chlorous acid, chemists 

 have endeavoured to determine its composition either according to the 

 re- actions which are produced during its formation or when the decolo- 

 rizing chlorides are in contact with certain compounds, or from theore- 

 tical considerations ; but it is easy to prove that these observations, the 

 accuracy of which on account of the abilitj'^ of the chemists who made 

 them is unquestionable, agree perfectly with the results which I have 

 obtained, and that my A'iews are most consistent with theory. 



M. Liebig, by causing the decolorizing compound of chlorine to act 

 upon the sulphurets of barium, lead, &c., observed that they were im- 

 mediately converted into sulphates, without evolving chlorine or pre- 

 cipitating sulphur. Now in order to convert 1 atom of these sulphur- 

 ets into sulphate, 4 atoms of oxygen are requisite, 3 to form the acid 

 and 1 to form the base. M. Liebig has supposed that this effect was 

 produced by 1 atom of chlorite ; and, as the base of this chlorite could 

 only yield 1 atom, he has admitted that the other 3 atoms were fur- 

 nished by the chlorous acid. On the other hand, the atom of metal of 

 the base is found in the liquor in the state of chloride ; there were re- 

 quired therefore 2 atoms of chlorine to form this compound. 



Chlorous acid, according to this, seems to be composed of 2 of chlorine 

 and 3 of oxygen. But if it be supposed that 2 atoms of this acid are 

 necessary to convert 1 atom of sulphuret into sulphate, the observa- 

 tions of M. Liebig will then entirely agree with mine. Of the 4 atoms 

 of oxygen requisite, 2 will be furnished by the 2 atoms of acid, and the 

 2 others by the 2 atoms of base ; and the 4 atoms of chlorine combining 

 with 2 atoms of metal will form 2 atoms of chloride. 



M. Soubeiran arrived at the same conclusions as M. Liebig from the 

 following considerations : if chlorous acid, he says, is formed as chemists 

 suppose, it is necessary for its production that 3 atoms of metallic 

 oxide should be decomposed to furnish the 3 atoms of oxygen which 

 enter into its composition, and there should be produced 3 atoms of 

 metallic chloride ; so that the decolorizing compounds of chlorine must 

 contain 3 atoms of chlorine in every atom of chlorite. 



In order to verify this supposition, M. Soubeiran converts a solution 

 containing 4 atoms of soda into decolorizing chlorids. He evaporated 

 thin in vacuo, and treated the residue of the evaporation with a satu- 



