324- Dr. W, C. Henry's Experiments on Gaseous Interference. 



are examples, he calls passive, because they do not act on 

 sulphuric acid; the other, of which Faraday's quadro-car- 

 buretted hydrogen and the oil obtained by himself, as well as 

 Mr. Enderby's oil (if the two latter be not identical), are spe- 

 cimens, he calls active, as they act strongly on the same acid. 

 I have mentioned his views here, in order to direct attention 

 to the striking fact, established by my experiments, that Mr. 

 Enderby's oil, belonging to one of these classes, is, partially 

 at least, converted by the action of sulphuric acid into a liquid 

 belonging to the other series, and retaining the same com- 

 position. 



Another cii'cumstance well worthy of notice is the fact that 

 several of the liquids in question yield uniform residts as to 

 composition, even when the portions analysed differ in density 

 and volatility. This has been shown to occur likewise in the 

 oils of turpentine and lemons, and seems to indicate the ex- 

 istence of an almost unlimited number of polymeric combina- 

 tions of carbon and hydrogen. 



When Mr. Enderby's liquid was first made known it was 

 stated to be an excellent solvent for caoutchouc, which, from 

 its great volatility, would have rendered it extremely valu- 

 able. But it is necessary to state, that I have not yet seen one 

 specimen of it which, under any circumstances, in my hands, 

 possessed this property. Two gentlemen informed me that 

 they had succeeded in dissolving caoutchouc by means of it ; 

 but when asked to repeat the experiment with the same liquid 

 they both failed. If therefore this liquid be a solvent for caout- 

 chouc, it must be under conditions with which I am not ac- 

 quainted. 



LXI V. Experiinents on Gaseous Interference. By William 

 Charles Henry, Mi)., F.R.S.* 



T^HE singular power exerted by certain gases, of suspend- 

 -■- ing the action of finely divided platina on mixtures of 

 oxygen and hydrogen, was first observed and announced by 

 Dr. Turner t} shortly after Diibereiner's discovery. It was 

 also about the same period noticed by Dr. Henry | in the 

 course of his researches on the application of platina to the 

 analysis of complex gaseous mixtures. More recently Dr. 

 Faraday $ has described similar interferences, affecting the 



* Read before the Chemical Section of the British Association at Bristol: 

 and communicated by the Author. 



f Jameson's Journal, vol. xi. pp. 99 and 311. 



i Phil. Trans., 1824, p. 266.; for Phil. Mas., First Scries, vol Ixv. 

 p. 372.— Edit.] § Ibid., 1834, p. 71. 



