310 THE ALLOTROPISM OF CHLORINE. [MEMOIR XX. 



mits three allotropic conditions of this body, Ca, C/3, Cy. 

 Between the first and last term s, of this series it is prob- 

 able that several intermediate bodies besides plumbago 

 might be found, their existence establishing the gradual 

 passage from one to the other state. 



For similar reasons, in this Memoir the illustrations 

 and arguments given have for the most part been re- 

 stricted to one subject, chlorine. It need scarcely be 

 pointed out, in conclusion, that if the views here offered 

 be true, very much of this reasoning may be transferred 

 to other bodies, as oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, sulphur, 

 etc. When oxygen and hydrogen are mixed, there is no 

 disposition exhibited by them to unite; and this does 

 not arise from their happening to have the gaseous form. 

 As in the instance we have been considering, if they are 

 exposed to a high temperature, or to the influence of 

 platinum, the active condition is assumed with prompti- 

 tude, and union takes place. 



The power possessed by carbon of throwing bodies 

 into a completely passive state is for from being limited 

 to chlorine. It reappears in the case of sulphur. The 

 sulphide of carbon yields to none of the tests to which 

 we commonly resort for determining the presence of sul- 

 phur, for the simple reason that its sulphur is in an inac- 

 tive state. This substance, moreover, serves to illustrate 

 what has been said of the gradual passage of bodies 

 from a state of complete activity to one of complete in- 

 activity. Berzelius recognizes for it three different allo- 

 tropic states an alpha, beta, and gamma condition. In 

 none of these is it in that condition of absolute inactiv- 

 ity which it assumes in the sulphide of carbon.* 



* For these examples, the chloride and sulphide of carbon, I am indebted to M. 

 Millon's paper, " Remarks on the Elements which Compose Organic Substances, and 

 on their Mode of Combination, "in the Comptes Rendus, t. xix., p. 799. That chem- 

 ist, however, gives a very different explanation of the phenomena involved. 



