xi MURIATIC ACID AND CHLORINE 217 



duced, there is a violent inflammation, and formation of 

 muriatic acid." 



" We made two mixtures, each consisting of about J litre 

 of [chlorine] gas with the same volume of hydrogen gas, 

 which we knew acted only slowly on one another ; one of 

 them we placed in complete darkness, and exposed the 

 other to the light of the sun, which was that day very 

 feeble. At the end of several days the first mixture was 

 still coloured green, and appeared to have undergone no 

 change ; the second, on the. contrary, had been completely 

 decolorised in less than a quarter of an hour, and was almost 

 entirely decomposed." 



" Being no longer able, after these experiments, to doubt 

 as to the influence of light on the combination of the two 

 gases, and judging from the rapidity with which it had 

 operated, that if the light had been much more vivid it 

 would have operated much more quickly, we made new 

 mixtures .... and placed them in complete darkness, 

 awaiting some moments of bright light. Two days after 

 having made the mixtures, we were able to expose them to 

 the sun. Scarcely had they been exposed when they 

 suddenly inflamed with a very loud detonation, and the 

 jars were reduced to splinters, and projected to a great 

 distance. Fortunately we had provided against such 

 occurrences, and had taken precautions to secure ourselves 

 against accidents" (A.C.R. XIII. 38, 41, 43). 



These experiments proved conclusively that muriatic gas 

 was a compound of hydrogen and chlorine, and was, in fact, 

 the only substance produced by the combination of these 

 gases. The composition of the gas must therefore be 

 represented by the equation : 



Chlorine + hydrogen -> muriatic gas, 

 instead of 



Chlorine - oxygen -> muriatic gas. 



This view is expressed in the modem system of nomen- 

 clature, in which muriatic acid gas is described as HYDROGEN 



