Dr. Kane’s Experiments on White Precipitate. 499 
The ordinary view of white precipitate founded on the ex- 
periments of Fourcroy and Hennell give the following numeri- 
cal results. Hg+ClNH! 
He —— OD ee —— acne 
ee ib On wa Wits 
ClH = 3642 = 13°37 
NEG i), 19515) =, 629 
The fallacy of this view is completely proved by the great 
variation of the quantity of mercury and the absence of oxy- 
gen. Its language has been nevertheless adopted by George 
Mitscherlich, and hasthus caused great confusion. He gives the 
name Chlorwasserstoffsiure to the hypothetic dry [anhydrous] 
muriatic acid, and his formula (N H?+M)+ Hg is so con- 
structed. This is shown by the numbers for muriatic acid and 
ammonia, 10°7 and 7°1, which he says form sal ammoniac. In 
order to get his value for the chlorine in the table of results 
(p. 496), I added to his muriatic acid half the oxygen which 
he gives to the oxide of quicksilver. In fact his analysis cor- 
rectly interpreted overturns the very hypothesis it was in- 
tended to support, for he obtained 
Mercury ... = 76°37 
Muriatic acid...10°70 af veg? 
Ouyiew sWats..i efit Chlorine ,... =. 13:82 
Ammonia... = 7:10 
97-29 
Leaving a vacancy of only 2°71 for all the oxygen to oxidize 
the whole of the quicksilver. 
The simplest view to take of the existence of the chlorine 
in this substance, is to suppose it united with half the mer- 
cury into corrosive sublimate. It is almost the only view which 
agrees with its reactions. ‘Then in what state is the remainder 
of the mercury? We may suppose it peroxidized, and the oxide 
united with the ammonia, giving the formula (2 Cl + Hg) 
+ (H+2N H?) and the following numerical results. 
2Hg = 405°60 or, per cent. 77°00 
Cr = Trae 13°45 
20x = 16°00 —__ i 3°04 
2NH* = °34°30 6°51. 
This agrees closely with Mitscherlich, and also with some 
of my own analyses. It differs nevertheless from the mean 
of my results in the quantities of mercury and chlorine, and 
particularly in the amount of oxygen; this hypothesis sup- 
posing the presence of 3°04 pee cent. of oxygen,—a body the 
Siu Z 
