1820.] the Composition of Chloride of Sulphur. 409 



entitled " On the Compounds of Sulphur and Oxygen." In 

 that paper, I attempted an analysis of it ; but at that time the 

 data upon which 1 had to go were so inaccurate that nothmg 

 more than an imperfect approximation could be expected. 

 There was one fact, however, which 1 pointed out, which has 

 been totally overlooked since, though it is of considerable 

 importance, and though it will serve to account for variations 

 that have been observed in the properties of chloride of sulphur 

 by the few chemists who have published detailed accounts of its 

 nature. The fact to which I allude is that it varies in its compo- 

 sition according to the proportion of the constituents employed 

 in forming it. Thus, for example, no two chemists have stated 

 the specific gravity of the chloride of sulphur the same. 



I found the specific gravity of the first portion of it which I 



prepared to be 1-623* 



BerthoUet, jun. found it l-7t 



Bucholz 1-699 J 



Sp. gr. of a new portion lately made by me. . 1-6789 



I conclude from the preceding table, that the composition of 

 the portion of chloride of sulphur, which served for my experi- 

 ments in the original paper which I published on the subject, was 

 different from that whose specific gravity was 1-699. 



It will be seen, by consulting my paper already referred to, 

 that one part of sulphur, when converted into chloride of sul- 

 phur, weighed 2-63 parts. Now as a portion of the sulphur was 

 volatihzed during the process, and as the chloride was not 

 rigidly weighed (for at that time I was not in possession of a 

 pair of scales large enough to weigh the Woulfe's bottle contain- 

 ing the chloride, and I was, therefore, obliged to pour it into 

 another smaller vessel) ; but a certain portion of it lost ; the 

 probability is, that my chloride was a compound of one atom of 

 sulphur and one atom of chlorine. Had no sulphur been vola- 

 tilized, and had the chloride been a compound of an atom of 

 sulphur and an atom of chlorine, then one part of sulphur would 

 have been converted into 3-25 of chloride of sulphur. The quan- 

 tity which BerthoUet obtained approaches very nearly to the 

 requisite weight ; for when his products are calculated by the 

 correct data at present in our possession, it will be seen that one 

 part of sulphur was converted by him into 3-123 parts of chlo- 

 ride of sulphur. § Bucholz, on the contrary, obtained from one 

 part of sulphur only 2-11 parts of chloride of sulphur. This 

 approaches nearest to what I obtained, and shows either that 

 his process had not been carried so far as tliat of BerthoUet, or 

 that a greater loss had been sustained by him. 1| 



Neither my analytical experiments, nor those of BerthoUet or 



♦ Nicholson"? Journal, vi. 104. + Mcini)ircs irAicucil, i. 166. 



t fJclilLn's Journal, bC( 1)11(1 strips, ix. 176. ij ftUimnrcs d'Arcueil, i. 165, 



II Citlilcn's Journal, second scries, i. IJi. 



