on the Alcohol of Sulphur, or Sulphuret of Carbon. 183 



ent parts, by exploding it, in a state of vapour, with oxygen 

 gas, in Volta's eudiometer ; but this method presented insur- 

 mountable obstacles, and in particular that of our not being 

 able to determine, with accuracy, the quantity of the oily sub- 

 stance actually decomposed by that process. 



2. On the other hand, on attempting simply to burn in 

 oxygen gas the sulphuret of carbon in its liquid state, the ne- 

 cessity of previously kindling it in the air, in order to avoid 

 explosions, prevented our being able to ascertain, with accu- 

 racy, the quantity of the oily substance submitted to the ex- 

 periment. 



3. We also attempted the oxydation of the sulphuret of 

 carbon by nitro-muriatic acid ; but we obtained by this method, 

 as we shall see afterwards, results and combinations which 

 were quite different from those which we had expected.* 



4. We then had recourse to the action of alkaline substances 

 on the sulphuret of carbon, with a view to produce an alkaline 

 sulphuret, and afterwards to convert this into a sulphate by 

 means of nitro-muriatic acid. The sulphuric acid, precipitated 

 by a barytic salt, was ultimately expected to indicate the quan- 

 tity of sulphur contained in the oily compound. In order to 

 try this method, we exposed portions of the sulphuret of car- 

 bon to the action of caustic potash, ammonia, barytic water, 

 &c. and when the solutions appeared to be completed, we tried 

 the effect of acids upon them ; these separated from them a 

 soft, reddish, glutinous substance, which, when exposed to 

 distillation, yielded, first, a portion of the oily liquor unde- 

 composed, and afterwards sdlphur; thus shewing that the 



• A new and singular compound was obtained from the long continued action of 

 nitro-muriatic acid ou the alcohol of sulphur^ the history and composition of which 

 will be detailed in the Appendix. 



