lg^ Prof. Berzelius's Experiments 



ingenious method of expressing the proportions in which bodies 

 combine, can be applied with certainty and precision.* 



D. Experiments on the Combination of the Sulphuret of Carbon, 

 with the Alkalies, the Earths, and the metallic Oxyds, 



The following experiments will shew in an unequivocal 

 manner, that the sulphuret of carbon is capable of combining 

 with saline bases. These combinations constitute a new class 

 of bodies, for which there is no name in our present chemical 

 nomenclature. I shall propose to call them carbosulphurets , a 

 name quite consonant with the principles of the received che- 

 mical nomenclature. 



The unavoidable presence of water, in either caustic potash 

 or soda, induced me to try, in the first instance, the action of 

 ammoniacal gas on the sulphuret of carbon. 



Carbosulphuret of Ammonia, Some ammoniacal gas, and 

 some liquid sulphuret of carbon were successively introduced 

 into a receiver filled with mercury, the sulphuret being en- 

 closed in a small glass bulb having an open orifice. The first 

 effect of this contact was a dilatation of the gas ; the surface 

 of the sulphuret soon covered itself with a pulverulent straw- 

 coloured substance, as if a portion of sulphur had been preci- 

 pitated. After a few hours, the gaseous mixture had sensibly 



• It appears to me that the best way to form a system of definite proportions, and 

 to make ir harmonize with the general views of chemistry, would be to take oxygen 

 as the base of the scale, because most chemical combinations turn upon the propor- 

 tion of that ingredient; and as gaseous bodies unite in equal or multiple volumes, I 

 would consider as tbe atom of any other gas, the proportional weight of an equal 

 measure of that gas. 



