S Some Experiments and Olservations on a new Substance 



existing' in the phosphorus, and which appears when that sub- 

 stance is acted on bv Voltaic electricity, may influence the re- 

 sult; but I am inclined to attribute it principally to the mois- 

 tiu'e adhering to the substance, and I have never been able to 

 produce more gas from the fusible compound by distilling it 

 with a new (juantity of phosphorus. 



When the fusible comi)ound of the substance with phosphorus 

 is distilled with a small quantity of water, the gas produced 

 seems to be of the same kind as that obtained by the action of 

 heat during the combination ; and both these gases when ab- 

 sorbed by water afford, when acted upon by nitrate of silver, the 

 same product as that formed by the action of a solution of the 

 substance in water on the same salt. 



I attempted to form a compound of the substance with hy- 

 drogen directlv, by heating it in several experiments to redness 

 in a glass tube filled with hydrogen. When the gas was moist, 

 or wben the tube contained vapour, a strong acid fluid was 

 formed of a deep yellow colour. Vvhen the gas and the sub- 

 stance were dry, there was aa expansion of volume ; and on 

 breaking the tulje, fumes appeared similar to those produced 

 by the action of tlie gas formed during the union of phosphorus 

 and the substance, and which precipitated in the same manner 

 a solution of nitrate of silver. This peculiar acid, which con- 

 sists of the substance united to hydrogen, has a very strong at- 

 traction for water, and a very small ([uantity of water absorbs a 

 large quantity of the gas; and when combined Avith water, it 

 rises with it in vapour, and in its state of liquid acid it rapidly 

 dissolves the substance, and becomes tawny. 



The new substance, as MM. Desorjnes and Clement have 

 shown, is rapidly soluble in solution of potash ; when it is in 

 excess the solution becomes red brown. Ori evaporating the 

 mixture and heating it to redness, a substance is formed, ex- 

 actly similar to that produced by the combination of the sub- 

 stance \vith potassium. 



As potasr,a is a compound of potassium and oxvgen, it is 

 evident that, to form a compound of potassium and the sub- 

 stance from potassa, oxygen must be expelled, and I f(,und by 

 experiment that this was the case; and in investigating mi- 

 nutely the action of fixed alkaline solutions on the substance, I 

 ascertained the existence of a class of substances, precisely si- 

 milar to the hyper-oxymuriates, consisting of oxygen, the sub- 

 stance and potassium, and formed in a manner exactly analo- 

 gous. 



If the substance is thro^™ into a moderately strong solution 

 ef potassa, as it d'.ssolves, crystals fall down, and by saturating 



the 



