54 HYDROGEN AND OXYGEN. 



form a great many bubbles on the surface of the 

 bason/the report will be as loud as that of a cannon. 



It has lately been discovered, that hydrogen, like 

 oxygen, is an acidifying principle. United to chlo- 

 rine, it forms hydro-chloric acid, which is the same 

 as muriatic acid. Combined with iodine, it forms 

 hydriodic acid. 



When hydrogen gas is united to sulphur, it 

 forms sulphureted hydrogen, which lias also the 

 properties of an acid. Tellureted hydrogen has 

 also acid properties. 



Hydrogen and Oxygen. 



It has been already mentioned, that these two 

 elements, when combined, form water. 



Till lately, water was considered as a simple sub- 

 stance, or element ; no one had ever been able to 

 decompose it ; and the decomposition of it, which 

 is daily effected in natural processes, had escaped 

 observation. We shall, however, give such evi- 

 dent proofs of the decomposition and recompo- 

 sition of water, as will clearly show that it is not a 

 simple body. 



Experiment I. A tube of common glass E F 

 (Plate 2. fig. 7)> well annealed, and difficult to be 

 fused, about ten or eleven lines diameter, was 

 placed across a furnace C F E D, in a position 

 somewhat inclined ; and to its upper extremity was 

 adapted a glass retort A, containing a known quan- 

 tity of distilled water, and resting on a furnace 

 V V, To the lower extremity of the glass tube F 

 was applied a worm S S, connected with the dou- 

 ble-tubulated flask H, and to the other tubulure 

 was adapted a bent glass tube K K, destined to con- 

 vey the gas to an apparatus proper for determining 



