■ T.>:pctments to iiccompofe the Muriatic AclJ. 535 



6. When all the water of the two gafes has hcen decQ^T- 

 pofcd, no efiedl cnfues from continuing the eleftriftition ; or, 

 if the water of each gas has been previoufly deftroyed by elec- 

 trifying them feparately, no farther efteft enfues from elec- 

 trifying them conjointly. 



7. Sipce, therefore, carbon, though placed under the moft 

 favourable circumftances for abRradling from the muriatic 

 acid^ and copihining \vilh its oxygen, evinces no fuch tend- 

 ency, it may be inferred, that, if the rtiuriatic acid be an oxy- 

 genated fuljflance, its radical has 4 ftronger afHnity for oxyge?! 

 than charcoal pofl'viHls. 



Though the firfl iniprefiioas excited in my mind by the 

 total failure of the above experiments, in accomplKhing one, 

 of the grcateft objeSs of modern chcmiftry, have induced me 

 for fome time to withhold ihem from the fociety, I am fa- 

 tisfied, bv reflection, that this corpmunication is no.t without 

 ejcpediencv. The means employed in attempting the ana- 

 Ivfis of the muriatic acid, were fuch as, after mature delibe- 

 ration, appeared to me moft to promife fijccefs; and the exr 

 jieriqients were attended with a degree of labour, \yhich cau 

 only be eflimated by thofe who have been engaged in fimilrjr 

 jmrfuits ; not one third of ilioie wliich were really made 

 having been defcribed in the foregoing account of them. It 

 may fpare, therefore, to others, a fruitlefs application of time 

 and trouble, to be made acquauited with what T have done; 

 and the collateral fat^^s, which have prefentcd themfclvcs in 

 the inquiry, are pevhups not without curiofity or value. 



From the refult of thefe experiments, I apprehend, all hopp 

 muft be reiinquiflied of eifeiiting the decompofition of the 

 nniriatic acid in the wav of fiugle elective affihity. They 

 furnidi alfo a (Irong probability that the bafis of the muriatic 

 acid is fome unknown body ; for no- combullible fubftance 

 with which we are acquainted oan retain oxygen, when fub- 

 mittcd in contaft with charcoal, to the aftion of eleftricitv, 

 or of a high temperature. The analvfis of this acid muft, in 

 future, be attempted with the aid of complicated afTiuitie.«, 

 'J'luis, in the maiteily expcrimen.t of Mr. Tennant, phof- 

 phorus, which attrac^-fs oxygen lefs ftronely than charcoal, 

 by the intermediation of lime, decompofes the carbonic acid, 

 y Yet^ 



i 



