{ 337 J 
LXXII. On two new Compounds of Chlorine and Carbon, and 
on a new Compound of Iodine, Carbon, and Hydrogen. By 
Mr. Farapay, Chemical Assistant in the Royal Institution*. 
Oxs of the first circumstances that induced Sir H. Davy to 
doubt the compound nature of what was formerly called oxymu- 
riatic acid gas, was the want of action of heated charcoal upon 
it; and considerable use of the same agent, and of the pheno- 
mena exhibited by it in different circumstances with chlorine, 
was afterwards made in establishing the simple nature of that 
body. 
The true nature of chlorine being ascertained, it became of 
importance to form all the possible compounds of it with other 
elementary substances, and to examine them in the new view 
had of their nature. This investigation has been pursued with 
such success at different times, that very few elements remain 
uncombined with it; but with respect to carbon, the very cir- 
cumstance which first tended to correct the erroneous opinions 
which, after Scheele’s time, and before the year 1810, had gone 
abroad respecting its nature, proved an obstacle to the formation 
of its compounds; and up to the present time, the chlorides of 
carbon have escaped the researches of chemists. 
That the difficulty met with in forming a compound of chlo- 
rine and carbon was probably not owing to any want or weakness 
of affinity between the two bodies, was pointed out by Sir H. 
Davy; who, reasoning on the triple compound of chlorine, car- 
bon, and hydrogen, concluded that the attraction of the two 
bodies for each other was by no means feeble ; and the discovery 
of phosgene gas by Dr. Davy, in which chlorine and carbon are 
combined with oxygen, was another circumstance strongly in 
favour of this opinion. 
I was induced last summer to take up this subject, and have 
been so fortunate as to discover two chlorides of carbon, and a 
compound of iodine, carbon, and hydrogen, analogous in its na- 
ture to the triple compound of chlorine, carbon, and hydrogen, 
sometimes called chloric ether. I shall endeayour in the follow- 
ing pages to describe these substances, and give the experimental 
proofs of their nature, 
If chlorine and olefiant gas be mixed together, it is well known 
that condensation takes place, and a colourless limpid volatile 
fluid is produced, containing chlorine, carbon, and hydrogen. If 
the volumes of the two gases are equal, the condensation is per- 
fect. If the olefiant gas is in excess, that excess is left un- 
* From the Transactions of the Royal Society for 1821. Read 21st of 
December 1820. 
Vol. 59, No, 289, May 1822. Uu changed, 
