64 CHLORINE. 



the durability of the substances bleached, and no 

 doubt, except due care is employed, this must be 

 the case. Prints that have been stained by smoke 

 and dust may also be whitened by it, as it does not 

 act upon the printing ink. 



Chlorine has likewise been found extremely effi- 

 cacious in destroying the putrid effluviag in pri- 

 sons, and hospitals, and preventing the infection 

 of the small-pox. But when used for this purpose, 

 a small quantity only is diffused through the air, 

 for, when taken into the lungs by itself, it is fatal 

 to animal life ; and, indeed, in preparing it, great 

 precaution should be used not to inhale it, as it is 

 extremely dangerous if not sufficiently diluted. 



Notwithstanding its unfitness for respiration, it 

 supports combustion in a remarkable degree. 

 Some bodies, as phosphorus, and several of the 

 metals, are spontaneously ignited when plunged 

 into a vessel of chlorine ; on this account it is now 

 reckoned one of the supporters of combustion, a 

 property which was lately supposed to be only en- 

 joyed by oxygen. In this view, combustion is re- 

 garded only as the result of intense chemical 

 action, and it is supposed that the compounds of 

 chlorine have less capacity for caloric than their 

 constituent principles, and, consequently, that ca- 

 loric is evolved at the moment of their formation. 



Chlorine is known to combine with oxygen in 

 three different proportions, forming 



1. Omde of Chlorine, or Euchloriney a gaseous 

 body, not acid, having a smell less irritating than 

 chlorine. 



2. Ojnjchloric Acid, which does not exist inde- 

 pendent of water or a base. 



3. Chloric Acid. — Chloric acid cannot be ob- 

 tained unmixed with water. It is colourless and 



