^^6 Exj>enments io dccomfojc the 'hlurlal'ic Acid. 



Yet, led by the analogy of this faft, its difcoverer found that 

 ■ a fimilar artifice did not fijcceed in decompofing the muriatip 

 acid. " As vital air," he obfervcs, " is attraded by a com- 

 pound of phofphorus and calcareous earth more powerfully 

 than by charcoal, I was deliroqs of trying their efficacy upon 

 thofe acids which way from analogy be fuppofed to contain 

 vital air^ but which are not aflfecled by the application of 

 charcoal. With this intention, I made phofphorus pafs 

 through a compound of marine a!cid and calcareous earth, 

 and alfo of fluor acid and calcareous earth, but without pro- 

 ducing in either of them any alteration. Since the flrong 

 attraftion which thefe acids have for calcareous earth tends 

 to prevent their decompoillion, it might be thought, that in 

 this manner they were not more difppfed to part with vital 

 air than by the attraction of charcoal : but this, however, 

 <loes not appear to be the fa£l. I have found that phof- 

 phorus cannot be obtained by paffing marine acid through 

 a compound of bones and charcoal when red-hqt. The at- 

 traftion, therefore, of phofphorus arid lime for vital air ex- 

 ceeds the attraiSllon of charcoal by a greater force than that 

 arifing from the attraftion of marine acid for lime*." 



By means fipiilar to thole employed in, attempting the ana- 

 lyfis of the muriatic acid, I tried to cffet!:! that of the fluoric 

 acid. When ele£lrified alone, in a glafs tube coated inter- 

 nally with wax, it fuftained a diminution of bulk, and there 

 remained a portion of hydrogenous gas. But neither in this 

 mode, nor by fubmitting it, mixed with carbonated hydro- 

 genous gas, to the action of eleftricity, was any progrefs 

 made towards its analvfis. Thefe experiments, however, 

 render it probable, that the fluoric acid, like the muriatic, is 

 fufceptible of ftill further oxygenation, in which ftate it be- 

 comes capable of acting on mercury. The carbonic acid, 

 on the contrary, appears qot to admit of two different degrees 

 of oxygenation. When the electric fhock has been repeat- 

 edly pafled through a portion of this acid gas, its bulk is en- 

 larged, and a permanent gas is produced, which is evidently 

 a mixture of oxygenous and hydrogenous gafes; for, whcri 

 ■'" Thilofophical Traiifaaions, Vol. LXXl. p. 184. 



an 



