466 



intense to melt a wire of platina. The presence of carbon was also 

 proved by the slow action of barytic-water and of lime-water on the 

 oily fluid, and consequent formation of carbonates of those earths. 



When the authors endeavoured to determine the proportion in 

 which the two constituents, carbon and sulphur, are united in this 

 compound, considerable difficulties occurred from its volatility, and 

 from the little affinity which it appeared to possess for the generality 

 of chemical agents. The danger of explosion was an obstacle to 

 the oxidation of it by direct combustion; and where attempts were 

 made to analyse it by means of nitro-muriatic acid, the result proved 

 to be a new and curious compound, that gave rise to a separate course 

 of experiment. By means of alkaline solutions a new and unequi- 

 vocal proof was obtained of the presence of carbon; but the decom- 

 position was too imperfect for the accurate determination of propor- 

 tional quantities. Recourse was therefore had to distillation of the 

 oil through red hot oxide of iron, by which means the carbon was 

 converted into carbonic acid, and the sulphur partly retained in the 

 state of a sulphuret, and partly converted into sulphurous acid gas. 

 By careful examination of these products, and by repetition of the 

 process with corresponding results, the proportion of the constituents 

 was found to be 84' 83 sulphur and 15' 17 carbon, a result which 

 accords extremely well with the hypothesis of two atoms of sulphur 

 to one atom of carbon; and since the quantities obtained in this 

 analysis corresponded with the quantity submitted to examination, 

 this agreement tended much to confirm the opinion, that the com- 

 pound does not contain any other element. 



An appendix to this paper, written by Professor Berzelius, alone, 

 contains the details of two experiments, from which the above pro- 

 portions of sulphur and carbon are determined ; and a statement of 

 certain laws of determinate proportions, from which the same infer- 

 ence might be drawn. 



The author's observation is, that when two combustible bodies unite, 

 the quantities of oxygen which they are disposed to absorb are either 

 equal, or one is a simple multiple of the other. In the present case 

 the quantity of oxygen necessary to convert the sulphur into sulphu- 

 rous acid is so nearly double of that which would be requisite to 

 convert the carbon into carbonic acid, that the result obtained by 

 supposing that to be the real proportion would not differ by one 

 third per cent, from the proportion gained by experiment. 



If Mr. Dalton's opinion be correct, that both the carbonic and 

 sulphurous acids consist of one atom of base with two atoms of 

 oxygen, then this sulphuret must contain two atoms of sulphur to 

 one of carbon ; but it is possible that carbonic oxide may contain two 

 atoms of base to one of oxygen, and in that case carbonic acid must 

 consist of one atom of each. If so, the sulphuret of carbon will 

 accord with other sulphurets which contain one atom of sulphur to 

 one of base. The author observes, however, that according to Sir 

 H. Davy, there are other sulphurets consisting of two portions of 

 sulphur to one of base; and accordingly a similar doubt occurs in 



