104 Mr. Faraday on two new Compounds [Aug 



Article III. 



On Two New Compounds of Chlorine and Carbon, and on a new 

 Compound of Iodine, Carbon, and Hydrogen. By Mr. Faraday, 

 Chemical Assistant in the Royal Institution.* 



One 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 forma- 

 tion of its compounds ; and up to the present lime, the chlorides 

 of carbon have escaped the researches of chemists. 



That the difficulty met with in forming a compound of chlorine 

 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, 

 carbon, and hydrogen, concluded that the attraction of the two 

 bodies for each other was by no means feeble ; and the disco- 

 very 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 

 nature to the triple compound of chlorine, carbon, and hydrogen, 

 sometimes called chloric ether. I shall endeavour in the follow- 

 ing pages to describe these substances, and give the experi- 

 mental 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 con- 

 densation is perfect. If the olefiant gas is in excess, that excess 



•From the Philosophical Transactions, 1621. 



