CHLORINE. 153 



oxygen may collect, bubbles of this gas will be found 

 above the liquid. This experiment proves the pow- 

 erful affinity of chlorine for hydrogen. 



363. BLEACHING BY CHLORINE. Intro- 



How is calico _ 



bleached by duce bits of calico into the solution 01 

 chlorine ? c hl or ine before obtained. Most colors will 

 soon disappear. If the solution is weak, the bleaching 

 effect will be better shown, with infusion of litmus or 

 red cabbage. Color may also be removed from cloth 

 or paper by hanging the article to be bleached, pre- 

 viously moistened with water, in a vial of gaseous 

 chlorine. 



364. Chlorine water may be prepared 



How ts chlo- 

 rine water best in larger quantity, by leading the gas di- 



preparcd? rect iy j nto wa ter. The first of the two 

 methods before described, will be found the most ad- 

 vantageous. 



365. OXYGEN THE REAL BLEACHING 



Explain how 



chlorine AGENT. The real bleaching agent in this 



bleaches. me thod of bleaching, is the same as that 



mentioned in paragraph 346. It is oxygen, always 

 present during the process, as an element of the water 

 which moistens the material. The chlorine simply 

 acts to bring nascent oxygen into activity. It does 

 this by depriving it of the hydrogen with which 

 it is combined. The oxygen having thus lost its com- 

 panion, looks about, as it were, for something else 

 with which to combine. The coloring matter of the 

 cloth being the first thing at hand, is destroyed by the 

 extreme energy of its affinity. 

 7* 



