33B Upon the Fonnation of the ISIuriatlc Add. 



and quite at hand, and which will soon become extremely 

 useful in natural philosophy, chemistry, t)ve arts, and even 

 in domestic oeconomv, for the manufacture of several in- 

 struments, vessels, and utensils of every kind ; since, to all 

 the advantages of gold, it adds several properties which 

 render it far superior to the latter. 



LVr. Upnn the Formation of the Muriatic Acid. By 

 ]\I. Paccihani. Extract of a Letter from Professor 

 Pfaff, (f Kiel, to 3/. Beuthojllkt*. 



At the very moment T was occupied with inquiring how 

 the muriatic acid was produced which I obtained in some 

 operations, without knowing from what cause, I was in- 

 formed of the labours of M. Pacchiani. 



I therefore entered upon an extensive series of experiments, 

 in order t(^ examine how far his discovery was well founded. 

 T took every possible precaution in my experiments, the cir- 

 cumstances of which I varied as much as possible. T sub- 

 iiiiited repeatedly distilled \\atcr in glass tubes of different 

 diameters to the influence of the poles of the Galvanic pile, 

 by esta!>iish'ing the communication between the water and 

 these tubes, sometimes by svphons filled with water, some- 

 times by fibres of flesh, nerves, and linen threads, &c. I 

 employed piles of from OO to 300 pairs of metallic disks in 

 order to vary the degree of electrical force, the difierence of 

 which chanoes chemical combinations so remarkably. 



I obtained traces of acid in the water exposed to the po- 

 sitive pole ; but this acid was by no means muriatic acid : 

 it was always nitric acid (the formation of which by the Gal- 

 vanic pile I announced five years ago) resulting from- the 

 combination of the oxygen disengaged from the water with 

 the azote more or less contained in the water : the more I 

 freed the water, by a long continued ebullition, of all the 

 air it contains, and excluded the free access of the atmo- 

 spheric air, the more also were the traces of the nitric 



• From .4mia!i:3 de ChunU, torn. Ix. p. 314. 



acid 



