192 On a new detonating Compound. 
as permanent as in the solutions of nitrate and 6xalate. 
The solution of prussiate of ammonia acted on by chlorine, 
afforded none of the peculiar oil; but produced white 
fumes, and became of a bright green colour. An attempt 
was made to procure the substance in large quantities, by 
‘passing chlorine into Wolfe’s bottles containing the dif- 
ferent solutions: but a single trial proved the danger of this 
mode of operating; the compound had scarcely begun to 
form, when, by the action of some ammoniacal vapour on 
chlorine, heat was produced, which occasioned a violent 
explosion, and the whole apparatus was desiroyed. 
f shall now describe the properties of the new substance. 
Tts colour is very nearly that of olive oil, and it is as trans- 
parent, and more perfectly liquid. I have not been.able 
to ascertain its specific gravity with accuracy, but it is pro- 
bably above 1°6. Its smell 1s very nauseous, strongly re- 
sembling that of the combination of carbonic oxide and 
chlorine, discovered by my brother; and its effect on the 
eyes is peculiarly pungent and distressing. A little of it 
was introduced under water into the receiver of an air 
pump, and the receiver exhausted; it hecame an elastic 
fluid, and in its gaseous state was rapidly absorbed or de- 
composed by the water. When warm water was poured 
into a glass containing it, it expanded into a globule of 
elastic fluid, of an orange colour, which diminished as it 
passed through the water. 
I attempted to collect the products of the explosion of 
the new substance, by applying the heat of a spirit-lamp 
to a globule of it, confined in a curved glass tube over 
water: a little gas was at first extricated; but long before 
the water had attained the temperature of ebullition, a vio- 
Jent flash of light was perceived, with a sharp report; the 
tube and glass were broken into small fragments, and [ 
received a severe wound in the transparent cornea of the 
eye, which has produced a considerable inflammation of 
the eye, and obliges me to make this communication by 
an amanuensis. This experiment proves what extreme 
caution is necessary in operating on this substance, for the 
quantity I used was scarcely as large as a grain of mustard seed. 
A smali giobule of it thrown into a glass of olive oil, 
produced a most violent explosion; and the glass, though 
strong, was broken into fragments. Similar effects were 
produced by its action on oil of turpentine and naphtha, 
When it was thrown into ether, there was a very slight 
action ; gas was disengaged in small quantities, and a sub- 
stance like wax was formed, which had lost the character- 
istic 
