Sir H. Davy*s further Observations, ^c, 24,3 



appeared in any of the foreign journals which have reached 

 this country, and as some difference of opinion and doubts exist 

 respecting its composition, I conceive a few details on its pro- 

 perties and nature will not be entirely devoid of interest. 



I have been able to determine its specific gravity, I hope, 

 with tolerable precision, by comparing its weight at 61' Fah- 

 renheit, with that of an equal volume of water. 8,6 grains 

 of the compound, carefully freed from the saline solution in 

 which it was produced, filled a space equal to that filled by 

 5,2 grains of water, consequently its specific gravity is 1,653. 



When the compound is cooled artificially, either in water 

 or in solution of nitrate of ammonia, the fluid surrounding it 

 congeals at a temperature a little below 40** Fahrenheit, 

 which seems to be owing to its becoming a solution of chlo- 

 rine ; for, as I have stated in a paper published in the Philoso- 

 phical Transactions, the saturated solution of chlorine in water 

 freezes very readily. The congelation of the fluid, in contact 

 with the new compound, led me, when I first operated on 

 it in very small quantities, to suppose it readily rendered solid 

 by cooling ; but I find in experimenting upon it, out of the 

 contact of water, that it is not frozen by exposure to a mixture 

 of ice and muriate of lime. 



The compound gradually disappears in water, producing 

 azote, and the water becomes acid, and has the taste and smell 

 of a weak solution of nitro-muriatic acid. 



The compound, when introduced into concentrated solution 

 of muriatic acid, quickly resolves itself into gas, producing 

 much more than its own weight of elastic fluid, which proves 

 to be pure chlorine, and the solution evaporated affords muriate 

 of ammonia. 



MDCCCXIII. K k 



