long as its oxygen is 'ndt exha'.Tftcd^'bediiiffe rf'Htlle 6f th^^' 

 latter fubftatice is necelTarv to produce til at gas, which cdfi- ' 

 fe^uently is a ternary cotnbihaliori; The reiichuim ihcn coii- ' 

 taios only carbbn and a' lefs quantity 6f hydrogeh thaVl' 

 fimple heat can deprive it of ; afid the diamo'ud'j according" 

 toBertholIet, ditTers from calcined charconlioaly by its not ' 

 coiitaining hydroaen, arid not. as GiivtcSh thought;' becaufe * 

 the charcoal already contains bxveeii. • 



In regard to the ditiiirent combinations which contain 

 hydrogen and carbon, Bertholtet divides them into two 

 clafles : the' ternary, which contain oxygen, alfo fnch as the 

 gas extricated from fiigarj that obtained from metallic oxides 

 with charcoal, and that which carbonate ofb'arytes produces 

 with the fame fubflance, &c. ; and the binary, which contain 

 no oxygen, as the gas known under the name of olefyingy ' 

 that extracted from alcohol and oil, and, in all probability," 

 that arifing from the dccompofiti'on of water bv charcoal." - 

 His method to determine whether gas contains oxvgen or not, " 

 is' fimple and ingenious. It confifts in general in burning ' 

 the gas, and obferving whether the otvgcn' it'has confnmed 

 during its combuftion has been fufficient to produce the ■ 

 refults. In the contrary cafe, the g^s bvivnt muft have al- ' 

 ready contained a greater or lefs quantilv of it. 



Bertholict has exammed alfo the compofitioti of the car- 

 boilic acid, not by a dire6l rncthod, but by admitting as tru<i" 

 the. proportion which be(t correfponded to all the experiment's ' 

 which his refearches required. lOO ciibic inches of this 

 acid contain,' according to Berlhollet, 84 cubic inches or 43 

 grains of oxygen, 16 grains of carbon, and froW 9 to 10 graitis 

 of water. 



In regard to the queftion which gave rife to all this labour, 

 Bertholict confidcrs the gas refulting from the reduAion of 

 zinc, as A ternary compound of earI)on, oxygen and hydrogen, 

 in the proportion of two parts of hydrogen, feven parts of ' 

 carl>oh,and thirty-two of oxvgena'i'i > 



While the French chcmifts wci'e^difeufling this qnefiioil 

 >;v?th fo mtich activity, it engaged the attention of foreigners ' 

 alfo. Mr. Cruicklhank gave to' the gas obtained the fame, 

 nameas GuytoH, viz. oxide of carbon. He however Hiw 

 water formed in all his experiments except one, where, by the 

 nature of the fubrtances employed, no more ought to havie ' 

 been prbduccd than juft a? much as the carbonic acid pro- 

 duced at the fame time could abforb : thus the refults of the 

 Eugliili chcrailt were, at bottom, the fame as the laft made 

 l)v Bcrthollcty lh<3ugh he employed the denominations of 

 Guy ion/ - ' . ; 



jiUOl XXXIII. IntcU 



