118 HOW CHOPS GROW. 



Exp. 20. Further account of them will be given under 

 the metals. 



CHLORINE AND ITS COMPOUNDS. 



Chlorine, Sym. Cl, at. wt. 35.5. This element exists in 

 the free state as a greenish-yellow, suffocating gas, which 

 has a peculiar odor, and the property of bleaching vege- 

 table colors. It is endowed with the most vigorous 

 affinities for many other elements, and hence is never met 

 with, naturally, in the free state. 



Sprengel claims to have found that Glaux maritima and Salicornia 7ier- 

 bacea, plants growing in salt marshes, exhale chlorine. He says that the 

 chlorine thus evolved is very quickly converted into chlorhydric acid, 

 by acting on the vapor of water which exists in the atmosphere. Such 

 an ex'halation of chlorine is manifestly impossible. The gas, were it 

 eliminated within the plant, would be consumed before it could escape 

 into the atmosphere. Chlorh} r dric acid is evolved from the mud of salt 

 marshes when left bare by ebb of the tide, and exposed to the heat of 

 the summer sun. It comes from the mutual decomposition of chloride 

 of magnesium and water, 



Mg C1 2 + H a O = Mg O + 2 H Cl. 



EXP. 55. Chlorine may be prepared by heating a mixture of chlor- 

 Lydric acid and black oxide of manganese or red-lead. The gas being 

 nearly five times as heavy as common air, may be collected in glass bot- 

 tles by passing the tube which delivers it to the bottom of the receiving 

 vessel. Care must betaken not to inhale it, as it energetically attacks 

 the interior of the breathing passages, producing the disagreeable 

 symptoms of a cold. 



Chlorine dissolves in water, forming a yellow solution. 

 Very weak chlorine water was found by Humboldt to fa- 

 cilitate the sprouting of seeds. 



In some form of combination chlorine is distributed over 

 the whole earth, and is never absent from the plant. 



The compounds of chlorine are termed chlorides, and 

 may be prepared, in most cases, by simply putting their 

 elements in contact, at ordinary or slightly elevated tern- 

 peratures. 



Clilorliyclric acid, also Hydrochloric acid, Sym. H Cl, mo, wt. 

 36.5. When Chlorine and Hydrogen gases are mingled together, they 

 slowly combine if exposed to diffused light; but if placed in the sun- 

 shine, they unite explosively, and chloride of hydrogen or chlorhydric 



