Mr. Faraday on Fluid Chlorine. 4 15 



still upon cooling. After remaining some time it disappeared, 

 having gradually mixed with the atmosphere above it, but 

 every repetition of the experiment produced the same re- 

 sults. 



Presuming that I had now a right to consider the yellow 

 fluid as pure chlorine in the liquid state, I proceeded to exa- 

 mine its properties, as well as I could when obtained by heat 

 from the hydrate. However obtained, it always appears very 

 limpid and fluid, and excessively volatile at common pressure. 

 A portion was cooled in its tube to 0° ; it remained fluid. 

 The tube was then opened, when a part immediately flew offi 

 leaving the rest so cooled, by the evaporation, as to remain a 

 fluid under the atmospheric pressure. The temperature 

 could not have been higher than — 40° in this case; as Sir 

 Humphry Davy has shown that dry chlorine does not con- 

 dense at that temperature under common pressure. Another 

 tube was opened at a temperature of 50° ; a part of the chlo- 

 rine volatilised, and cooled the tube so much as to condense 

 the atmospheric vapour on it as ice. 



A tube having the water at one end and the chlorine at the 

 other was weighed, and then cut in two; the chlorine imme- 

 diately flew off, and the loss being ascertained was found to 

 be 1 "6 grain : the water left was examined and found to con- 

 tain some chlorine : its weight was ascertained to be 5*4 grains. 

 These proportions, however, must not be considered as indi- 

 cative of the true composition of hydrate of chlorine ; for, from 

 the mildness of the weather during the time when these expe- 

 riments were made, it was impossible to collect the crystals 

 of hydrate, press, and transfer them, without losing much 

 chlorine; and it is also impossible to separate the chlorine 

 and water in the tube perfectly, or keep them separate, as the 

 atmosphere within will combine with the water, and gradually 

 re-form the hydrate. 



Before cutting the tube, another tube had been prepared 

 exactly like it in form and size, and a portion of water intro- 

 duced into it, as near as the eye could judge, of the same bulk 

 as the fluid chlorine; this water was found to weio^h 1*2 grain; 

 a result, which, if it may be trusted, would give the specific 

 gravity of fluid chlorine as 1*33 ; and, from its appearance in 

 and on water, this cannot be far wrong. 



Note on the Condensation of Muriatic Acid Gas into the liquid 



Form. By Sir U. Davy, Bart. Pres. U.S. 



In desiring Mr. Faraday to expose the hydrate of chlorine 



to lieat in a closed glass tube, it occurred to me, that one of 



three things would happen : that it would become fluid as a 



hydrate; 



