on the new Substance called Iode. 271 
I desire to impress that it affords to my mind a convincing proof, 
that the zo fluids (called positive and negative) do not inter- 
fere with each other, on their passage in opposile directions ; and 
this may be further elucidated by coaling each side of the inter- 
mediate card with mucilage (gum), for in this case no bur will 
be raised, and two apertures found. - 
M. Walsh, in the penultimate number of “ The Annals of 
Philosophy,”’ states some interesting experiments on the e/lectri- 
city of paper. The attractive power which writing-paper, being 
well heated, acquires by.friction with caoutchouc, (andasI find, 
also, with wheaten bread, &c.) is a circumstance which most 
electricians are aware of. So much is this adhesive property 
manifested, that paper thus treated will append to a wall for 
some minutes. Paper is a well known electric ;—lurnt paper, 
according to my experiments, becomes @ conductor of electricity ; 
but when converted, by combustion, further, into white ash, it 
reverts to its former electric state. 
As every fact, though humble in itself, and insulated, is ne- 
cessary, before we report on the nature and properties of a new 
substance, I shall deviate in this instance from any thing like a 
natural order or arrangement. 
Tode, that most singular body, a correct estimate of which 
seems to baffle our best researches, appears to me to be “ gifted” 
with a most trappropriate tille, and the same objections militate 
against the term Jodine.—Jodegene is at once expressive of. its 
generating a violet colour by heat. The term gas most in- 
aptly applies,—for at common temperatures it is not a perma- 
nently elastic fluid ;—and if it should ultimately be pronounced 
to be a metal, then, according to the more modern acceptation 
of the nomenclature, its name will be Jodium. 
In the external characters of opacity and lustre, tode assimi- 
lates‘to a metal, and the circumstance of its forming a fulmi- 
nating compound with ammonia is allied to this opinion. The 
crystals of iode examined with a@ lens present uniformly rhom- 
boidal prisms. ode is much like ore of irridium, a specimen 
of which I have lately obtained. 
I kept for some time a glass tube inclosing iode in a tin case, 
and on examining it found the tube broken, and that the ode 
had disappeared, wot a trace of tt could be ascertained. 1 then 
moistened a slip of litmus paper with distilled water, and intro- 
duced it into the tin envelope. When it was withdrawn, a few 
red spots appeared on w/; and as on contact of liquid ammonia, . 
the original colour was restored; there seemed evident signs 
‘of an acid. ; 
When iode rises in vapour, its odour is somewhat like that of 
chlorine. 
By 
