1820.] of Chlorine and Carbon, $c. 87 



chloride is to be collected on a filter, and dried as much as 

 may be, by pressure between folds of bibulous paper. It 

 should next be introduced into a glass tube, and sublimed by 

 a spirit-lamp : the pure substance with water will rise at first, 

 but the last portions will be partially decomposed, muriatic 

 acid will be liberated, and charcoal left. The sublimed por- 

 tion is then to be dissolved in alcohol, and poured into a weak 

 solution of potash, by which the substance is thrown down, 

 and the muriatic acid neutralized and separated ; then wash 

 away the potash and muriate by repeated affusions of water, 

 until the substance remains pure ; collect it on a filter, and 

 dry it, first between folds of paper, and afterwards by sulphuric 

 acid in the exhausted receiver of the air-pump. 



It will now appear as a white pulverulent substance ; and if 

 perfectly pure, will not, when a little of it is sublimed in a tube, 

 leave the slightest trace of carbon, or liberate any muriatic 

 acid. A small portion of it dissolved in rether should give no 

 precipitate with nitrate of silver. If it be not quite pure, it 

 must be resublimed, washed, and dried until it is pure. 



This substance does not require the direct rays of the sun 

 for its formation. Several tubes were filled with a mixture of 

 one part of olefiant gas with five or six parts of chlorine, and 

 placed over water in the light of a dull day ; in two or three 

 hours there v/as very considerable absorption, and crystals of 

 the substance were deposited on the inside of the tubes. I 

 have also often observed the formation of the crystals in retorts 

 in common daylight. 



A retort being exhausted had 12 cubic inches of olefiant gas 

 introduced, and 24*75 cubic inches of chlorine : as soon as the 

 condensation occasioned by the formation of the fluid had 

 taken place, 21*5 cubic inches more of chlorine were passed in, 

 and the retort set aside in a dark place for two days. At the 

 end of that time muriatic acid gas and the solid chloride had 

 formed, but the greater part of the fluid remained unchanged. 

 Hence it will form even in the dark by length of time. 



I tried to produce the chloride by exposure of the two gases 

 in tubes over water to strong lamp-light for two or three hours, 

 but could not succeed. 



The perchloride of carbon, when pure, is, immediately after 

 fusion, or sublimation, a transparent colourless substance. It 



