416 Mr. Faracia}' on the Condensation 



hydrate; or that a decomposition of water would occur, and 

 euchlorine and muriatic acid be formed; or that the chlorine 

 would separate in a condensed state. This last result having 

 been obtained, it evidently led to other researches of the same 

 kind. I shall hope, on a future occasion, to detail some ge- 

 neral views on the subject of these researches. I shall now 

 merely mention, that by sealing muriate of ammonia and sul- 

 phuric acid in a strong glass tube, and causing them to act 

 upon each other, I have procured liquid muriatic acid : and 

 by substituting carbonate for muriate of ammonia, I have no 

 doubt that carbonic acid may be obtained, though in the only 

 trial I have made the tube burst. I have requested Mr. Fara- 

 day to pursue these experiments, and to extend them to all 

 the gases which are of considerable density, or to any extent 

 soluble in water ; and I hope soon to be able to lay an ac- 

 count of his results, with some applications of them that I 

 propose to make, before the Society. 



I cannot conclude this note without observing, that the ge- 

 neration of elastic substances in close vessels, either with or 

 without heat, offers much more powerful means of approxi- 

 mating their molecules than those dependent upon the appli- 

 cation of cold, whether natural or artificial : for, as gases di- 

 minish only about -^^q in volume for every — degree of Fah- 

 renheit's scale, beginning at ordinary temperatures, a very 

 slight condensation only can be produced by the most power- 

 ful freezing mixtures, not half as much as would result from 

 the application of a strong flame to one part of a glass tube, 

 the other part being of ordinary temperature : and when at- 

 tempts are made to condense gases into fluids by sudden 

 mechanical compression, the heat, instantly generated, pre- 

 sents a formidable obstacle to the success of the experiment ; 

 whereas, in the compression resulting from their slow genera- 

 tion in close vessels, if the process be conducted with common 

 precautions, there is no source of difficulty or danger; and it 

 may be easily assisted by artificial cold in cases when gases 

 approach near to that point of compression and temperature 

 at which they become vapours. 



LXXXVII. On the Condensation of several Gases into Liquids. 

 By Mr. Faraday, Chemical Assistant iii the Royal Institu- 

 tion. Communicated by Sir Humphry Davy, Bart. Pres. 

 R.S.* 

 T HAD the honour, a few weeks since, of submitting to the 

 -*■ Royal Society a paper on the reduction of chlorine to the 



* From the Philosophical Transactions for 1823, Part II. 



liquid 



