50 Ex'cnmttits and Obfervations on the OIfJi,iiit Gr.s 



the proccfj hai! before fucceeded in fimilar cafes. Having mixed in a lube over water equal 

 parts of their inflammable gas and oxigcnated muriatic gas, an abforption took place which was 

 rnore rapid than what obtsins between the latter gas and water ; a thicii oil of a pearl grey 

 colour more ponderous than water was depofited. The tube was filled with a white vapour; 

 much caloric was difengaged, and there remained one eighth part of the gas made ufe of, 

 which was (lill inflammable. A fecond mixture of four parts of oxigenated muriatic acid 

 gas, and one part of the inflammable gas produced by alcohol and the fulphuric acid, and 

 kept over water for eight days, prefented the fame phajnomena as the foregoing. J^fte^ 

 the feparation of the oxigenated muriatic acid gas, there remained only i'-„th part, which 

 was azotic gas aflbrded by the oxide of manganefe. 



The eighth paragraph is employed in defcribing the properties of tl e oil obtained in the 

 foregoing experiment. When colle£led in an apparatus which the author? do not defcribe, 

 it prefented the following ch.ira£lers : Its femi-tranfparencc refemblcd the colour of pearls ; 

 it funk in water, and became yellow by expofure to air ; its fmell was agreeable and pene- 

 trating, its tafte rather fwcet ; both thefe properties were very different from that of ether. 

 It was diflbluble in w.\ter, which acquired its odour ; liquid vegetable alkali rendered it 

 fweeter, by depriving it of the fmell of oxigenated muriatic acid. 



In their enquiries, in the ninth paragraph, concerning the compofition of this gas from 

 the known properties of fulphuric acid and alcohol, of which it is formed, the Dutch 

 chemifts affumc in the firll place as a principle that it can contain no other ingredient than 

 hydrogene, carbone, and oxigene. This lad fubftance does not appear to them to be prcfcnt, 

 becaufe it ought either to form water or carbonic acid, neither of which compounds appears*. 

 The gas is not ether diflblved in fulphureous acid gas -, becaufe after the combuftion with 

 vital air by means of eleftricity, as well as after its converGon into oil by the oxigenated 

 muriatic acid, the muriate of barytes does not indicate fulphuric acid, which ought in that 

 cafe to be formed. Neither does fulphur enter into its compofition ; for it does not ex- 

 hibit the fmell of fulphurated liydrogenous gas, nor does it throw down fulphur in propor- 

 tion as the gas is burned. By this method of exclufion, the learned cliemills of Amfter- 

 dam conclude that their inflammable gas can be compounded of nothing but hydrogene and 

 carbone. 



The tenth paragraph is employed in proving the exigence of hydrogene in this gas. 

 Though the formation of water and of oil by the oxigenated muriatic acid fufliciently declares 

 this ; yet, as the prefence of the water over which the experiment was made might leave 

 fome doubt, the Dutch chemifts had recourfe to other proofs. By paffing their gas through 

 a tube filled with fulphur in fufion, they obtained fulphurated hydrogenous gas, and the 

 fulphur was blackened. 



In the eleventh paragraph they prove the prefence of carbone in their gas, not only by 

 the black colour of the fulphur indicated in the foregoing experiments, but by the forma- 

 tion of carbonic acid, which takes place whether the gas be burned with vital air, by means 

 of the eledric fpark, or by palfing it through an ignited tube filled witli the oxide of man- 

 ganefe. 



♦ To thtfc two condiiions may be addtd another, wliich the learned .luihors have not dircfliy confidcred, 

 name I)-, that it may form a triple compound. This, in fafl, may happen in the oil; for which vide iDfr.\. N. 



A later 



