172 Pfof, Berzelius and Dr. Marcet's Experiments 



hydrogen ; and the late Mr. Berthollet, jun.* who resumed 

 the subject, with much apparent accuracy, was induced, from 

 his experiments, to adopt the last mentioned opinion, that the 

 alcohol of sulphur was a compound of sulphur and hydrogen, 

 and that no carbon entered into its formation. 



Sir Humphry Davy, in the course of his brilliant career of 

 chemical discovery, has repeatedly noticed this singular sub- 

 stance ;"f but it does not appear that he ever examined it 

 minutely, and if he gave the preference to the opinion of the 

 younger Mr. Berthollet, respecting its chemical nature, it was 

 principally from the circumstance of its having apparently yielded 

 sulphuretted hydrogen by the agency of the Voltaic electricity, 

 and sulphureous and sulphuric acid by combustion in oxygen. 



These varieties of opinions, amongst such respectable au- 

 thorities, having left on our minds much doubt and uncertainty 

 with regard to the real nature of this compound, we under- 

 took to examine it conjointly; in hopes that we might succeed 

 in ascertaining its composition with a greater degree of cer- 

 tainty than our predecessors had done, and perhaps also in 

 discovering the exact proportions of the elements of which it 

 is composed, a circumstance which, in the present state of 

 chemical science, would add considerable interest to an enquiry 

 of this kind. J 



* Memoircs d'Arcueil, Vol. I. j and Annales de Chimie, Vol. LXI. p. 127. 



f Phil. Trans. 1809, page 464; and Elements of Chemical Philosophy, page 283 

 and 310. 



X This enquiry was undertaken in London, in the months of July, August, and 

 September, during Mr. Berzelius's stay in this country; and the leading points of 

 the analysis were then ascertaineds and mentioned to our chemical friends. Some 

 parts of the work, however, and in particular the precise determination of proportions, 

 remained to be completed ; and this has been accomplished by Professor Berzelius 



