444 PHOSPHURETS. 



PHOSPHURET OF SULPHUR, OR SULPHURET OF PHOSPHORUS.* 



1. PREPARATION. 



(.) It is unsafe to form this compound by melting the materials 

 under water, unless in very small quantities, say 60 or 80 grains, 

 and with a heat not over 160 Fahr. 



(6.) Mix the ingredients, the phosphorus in slices- the sulphur 

 in flowers, and place them in a tube sealed at one end, and loosely 

 corked ; immerse this in water, and heat it gradually, till the com- 

 bination is formed, f Or, melt phosphorus, not exceeding 30 or 

 40 grains, in a tube from J to f of an inch wide, and 4 or 5 

 inches long ; the sulphur may be thrown in, in successive small 

 pieces. In all the modes, sulphuretted hydrogen is evolved. 



2. PROPERTIES. 



(.) Fusibility greatest when the proportions are equal or 1J of 

 sulphur to 2 phosphorus, J congeals at 41 ; 1 of sulphur to 2 phos- 

 phorus, at 50 ; with 1 to 4 at 60 ; sulphur prevailing, it becomes 

 less fusible ; 1 of phosphorus to 2 sulphur congeals at 56, 1 to 3 

 at 99. Phosphorus 1, and sulphur 8, or even 30, give a solid and 

 good compound for lighting matches, but they unite in every propor- 

 tion. 



(b.) Decomposes water, becomes acid, emits fetid gases, and 

 if heated in contact with water to 210, it explodes. 



(c.) Less inflammable when formed in the dry than in the humid 

 ivay ; becomes very inflammable by kindling it by a hot wire in the 

 tube, and suffering it to burn for a few minutes. 



(d.) Olive oil, rubbed with this compound, and suffered to stand 

 in the cold, dissolves it, as do the essential oils. 



(e.) When the solution is perfectly clear, it may be rubbed on the 

 hands with safety, and appears very luminous in the night. 



(f.) The solution in olive oil, mixed in equal parts with oil of 

 turpentine, gives a beautiful shower of fire, when poured out in the 

 dark. 



* For many interesting particulars, see Nich. Vol. VI, and VII ; Accum and 

 Briggs ; Ann. de Chim. Vol. IV, p. 10 ; Quar. Jour. IV, p. 361. 



t The young chemist should be very much on his guard in 

 forming this dangerous compound ; the mode in which I have 

 succeeded the best, has been to prepare the materials as stated t 

 in the text, and then to hang the tube through a piece of board 

 laid across a common tea-kettle, whose lid is removed ; it con- 

 tains cold water, and is placed over live coals contained in a 

 table furnace, and left to itself; it ought not to be approached 

 until the water has boiled and grown cold again. I have, when 

 even all these precautions were taken, known several violent 

 explosions, throwing the kettle to a distance. 



Prof. Olmsted remarks, that if the phosphorus is dried by blotting paper, and the 

 sulphur in a saucer, the danger of explosion is greatly diminished. 



\ Thenard says 2 of phosphorus and 1 of sulplur. 



