208 NEW DF.TONAT1NG SUBSTANCE. 



" It was evident from < v not re, that it could not be forrm-d in 

 any operations in which tiea' i* con'-prm-d ; I therefore thought 

 of attempt! n. to combine azote and chlorine un<W circumstances 

 vrhicli I had never tried before, that of presenting them to each 

 other artificially cooled, the azote being in a nascent state. For 

 this purpose I made a solution of ammonia, cooled it by a mixture 

 of ice and muriate of lime, and slowly passed into it chlorine, cooled 

 by the same means. There was immediately a violent action, ac- 

 companied by fumes of a peculiarly disagreeable smell ; at the 

 same time a yellow substance was seen to form in minute films on 

 the surface ef the liquor; but it was evanescent, and immediately 

 resolved itself into gass. f was preparing to repeat the experi- 

 ment, substituting the prussiate of ammonia and other ammoniacal 

 compounds, in which less heat might be produced by the action of 

 the chlorine, than in the pure solution of the gass, when my friend 

 Mr. J. G. Children put me in mind of a circumstance of which he 

 had written to me an account, in the end of July, which promised 

 to elucidate the enquiry, viz. that Mr. James Burton, jun. in ex. 

 posing chlorine to a solution of nitrate of ammonia, Had observed 

 the formation of a yellow oil, which he had no* been able to col- 

 lect so as to examine its properties, as it was rapidly dissipated by 

 exposure to the atmosphere. Mr. Children had tried the same ex 

 periment with similar results. 



" I immediately exposed a phial, containing about six cubical 

 inches of chlorine, to a saturated solution of nitrate of ammonia, 

 at the temperature of about fifty decrees in common day-light. 

 A diminution of the gass speedily took place; in a few minutes a 

 film, which had the appearance of oil, was seen on the surface of 

 the fluid ; by shaking the phial it collected in small globules, and 

 fell to the bottom. I took out one of the globules, nnd exposed 

 it in contact with water to a gentle hrat : long before the water 

 began to boil, it exploded with a very brilliant light, but without 

 any violence of sound. 



*' I immediately proposed to Mr. Children, that we should insti- 

 tute a series of experiments upon its preparation and its proper, 

 ties. We consequently commenced the operations, the results of 

 which I shall describe. We were assisted in our labours, which 

 were carried on in Mr. Children's laboratory at Tunbridge, by 

 Mr. Warburton. 



' It was found that the solution of oxalate of ammonia, or a very 



