6 Sir H. Davy's Account 



so violent as to break the vessel in which the experiment was 

 made. The new body, when acted upon under water by mer- 

 cury, afforded a substance having the appearance of corrosive 

 sublimate, and gas was disengaged. On tin foil and zinc it 

 exerted no action ; it had no action on sulphur, nor on resin. 

 In their alcoholic solutions it disappeared as in pure alcohoL 

 It detonated most violently when thrown into a solution of 

 phosphorus in ether, or in alcohol. Phosphorus introduced 

 into ether, into which a globule of the substance had been put 

 immediately before, produced no effect. In muriatic acid it 

 gave off' gas rapidly, and disappeared without explosion. On 

 dilute sulphuric add it exerted no violent action. It immedi- 

 ately 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 experi- 

 ments : 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 gaseous matter, supposing it to be 

 composed of azote and chlorine, is without any parallel instance, 

 in our present collection of chemical facts ; the decomposition 

 of euchlorine, which has been compared to it, is merely an 

 expansion of matter already gaseous. The heat and light pro- 

 duced by its rarefaction, in consequence of decomposition, 

 depend, probably, on the same cause as that which produces the 

 flash of light in the discharge of the air gun. 



