184 ■ Format'ioii of muriatic Acid hy Galvanism. 



riate of gold. These experiments cannot fail to have excited 

 an ardent interest in the mind of every chemist in this coun- 

 try, and an anxious expectation of the issue of the process 

 in ihe hands of other experimentnlists. For this reason I 

 communicate to you the follow ing account, though not 

 " perfecilv conclusive, with a request that you will suppress 

 it if more satisfactory testimony should reach you from any 

 other quarter. 



" Th.e ap|>arafu5 which I employed was such as would 

 occur to any person having the same object in view ; viz. 

 a glass tube -1-A- inches long and -35 inches diameter, in 

 which were secured, by means of corks, two slips ot platina 

 (cut from a piece which was given to nie, long agOj bv Mr. 

 Tennant) wilh their extremities at a proper distance fom 

 each other. The water, at the outset, amounted to two 

 drachms ; and was reduced, bv six days' exposure to the 

 current, (in part probably by evaporation, though carefully 

 covered v.ith pasteboard,) to a quantity which left half an 

 inch of the tube unfilled. It had been most attentively pu- 

 rified, first bv simple distillation, and again by a second 

 distillation, after the addition of nitrate of silver. At the 

 close of the experiment it was found to become opalescent 

 in a few seconds by the mixture of nitrate of silver, and 

 afterwards to undere,o, when exposed to the light, the usual 

 change of colour, indicating the presence of muriatic acid. 

 To asceVtain whether muriate of platina were present, T 

 added a solution of muriate of annrionia to one portion, 

 and to another caibcmate of soda ; but no precipitation en- 

 sued. Thisj however, might possibly be owing to the very 

 dilute state of the solution ; and I was proceeding to reduce 

 the remainder by evaporation, with the view to further ex- 

 periments, when the whule was unfortunately lost by acci" 

 dent. 



'* The repetition of this process requires the careful ob- 

 servance of one precaution, which is extremely likely to be 

 overlooked. The water employed must, on no account, 

 come into contact with the fingers of the operator ; fori 

 have found that from the surface i^f the skin there is a con- 

 stant and copious excretion of muriate of soda, with, per- 

 haps, a little muriate of ammonia. Of this any one may 

 be satisfied by observing the change effected by nitrate of 

 silver on pure dit tilled water alter being poured on the palm 

 of the hand ; and if a glass tube, containing distilled water, 

 be frequently inverted in a cup of the sanie, oy means of the 

 thumb or a finger, the water will be found to be precipitated 

 by nitrate of silver. Suspecting that the corks might have 



furnished 



