on the Nature of certain Bodies. 13 



oFMr. Clayfield and of M. Berthol'.ef, jun., which seemed 

 to show that suljihur, in its common form, contained hy- 

 drogen. In considering the analytical powers of the VoUaic 

 apparatus, it occurred to me, that though sulphur, from its 

 being a non-conductor, cocld not he expected to yield its 

 elements to the electrical attractions and repulsions of the 

 opposite surfaces, yet that tlie intense heat, connected with 

 the contact of thcie surfaces, might possibly effect some al- 

 teration in it, and tend to separate any clastic matter it 

 luight contain. 



On this idea some .experiments were instituted in 1807. 

 A curved glass tube, having a platina wire hermetically 

 ecc'.led in its upper e.xtremity, was filled with sulpliur. The 

 sulphur was melted over a spirit lamp; and a proper con- 

 nection beiiig made with the Voltaic app.iratus of one hun- 

 dred plal'js of six* inches, in great activity, a contact was 

 made m the su phur by means of another platina wire. A 

 most brilliant spar ., w'.iich appeared orange coloured thr(iuo;!i 

 the sulphur, was produced, and a minute portion of elastic 

 fluid ro>e to the upper extremity of the tube. By a continua- 

 tion of the process for nearly an hour, a globule equal to 

 about the tenth of an inch in diameter was obtained, which, 

 when examined, was found to be sulpiiuretted hydrogen. 



This result per.'"eclIy'coincidcd wiih tho^^e which have been 

 just menlioned ; but as the sulphur that I had used was 

 merely in its common state, and as the ingenious experi- 

 ments of Dr. Thomson have shown that sulphur in certain 

 forms may contain water, I did not venture, at that time, 

 ' to form any conclusion upon the subject. 



In the summer of the present year, I lepeated the experi- 

 ment with every precaution. The sulphur that I. emploved 

 was Sicilian sulphur, that had beeii recently sublimed in a 

 retort filled with nitrogen gas, and that had been kept hot 

 liil the moment that It was used. The power applied was 

 that of the battery of five hundred -double plates of six inches, 

 highly clurged. In this case the action was most, intense, 

 tlic heal strong, and th^; light extremely hrilliaiil ; l!ie sul- 

 phur soon cniered into ebullition, clastic matter was formed 

 in great quantities, much of which was pcruianeul; and the 



sulphur, 



