NEW DETONATING SIBStANCfi. 



a most violent explosion ; and the glass, though strong, was brokfit 

 into fragments. Similar effecls were produced by its action ort 

 oil of turpentine and naphtha. When it was thrown iulo ether, 

 there was a very slight action ; gass was disengaged in small quan- 

 tities, and a substance like wax was formed, which had lost the' 

 characteristic properties of the new body. On alcohol it acted 

 slowly, lost its colour, and became a while oily substance, without 

 explosive powers. When a particle of it was touched under watfr 

 by a particle of phosphorus, a brilliant fight was perceived nndt r 

 the water, and permanent gass was disengaged, having the charac- 

 ters of azote. 



tl When quantities larger than a grain of mustard seed were used 

 ft>r the contact with phosphorus, the explosion was always so vio. 

 lent as to break the vessel in which the experiment was madr. 

 The new body, when acted upon under water by mercury, afford- 

 ed a substance, having the appearance of corrosive sublimate, and 

 gass was disengaged. On tin foifand zinc it exerted no action ; it 

 had no action on sulphur, nor on resin. In their alcoholic sofuti- 

 ons it disappeared as in pure alcohol. It detonated most violently 

 when thrown into a solution of phosphorus in ether, or in alcoho?. 

 Phosphorus introduced into ether, into which a globule of the sub. 

 stance had been rjfot immediately before, produced no effect. la 

 muriatic acid it gave off gass rapidly, and disappeared without ex- 

 plosion. On dilute sulphuric acid it exerted no violent action. 

 It immediately disappeared without explosion in Libavius's liquor, 

 to which it imparted a yellow tinge. 



*' It seems probable, from the general tenor of these facts, that the 

 new substance is a compound of azote and chlorine; the same as, 

 or analogous to, that mentioned in the letter from Paris. It is easy 

 to explain its production in our experiments : the hydrogen of the 

 ammonia may Be conceived to combine with one portion of the 

 chlorine to form muriatic acid, and the azote to unite with another 

 portion of chlorine to form the new compound. The heat and light 

 produced during its expansion into gasseous matter, supposing it to 

 be composed of azote and chlorine, is without any parallel in. 

 stance, in our present collection of chemical facts ; the decomposi- 

 tion of euchlorine, which has been compared to it, is mrrrly an 

 expansion of matter already gasseous. The heat and light produced 

 by its rarefaction, in consequence of decomposition, depend, pro. 

 bably, on the same cause as that which produces the flash of light 

 in the discharge of the air gun. 



