VOLTAIC ACTION OF PHOSPHORUS, SULPHUR AND HYDROCARBONS. 355 



No. 2. Same without phosphorus. 



Tested by galvanometer, No. 1. always gave a deflection. No. 2. none. 



On the 3rd of December the carbonic acid gas in both batteries had been absorbed, 

 and the liquid had reached the extremities of both tubes. 



In the oxygen tube of 



No. 1, rise of liquid =075 cubic inch. In No. 2, 005 cubic inch. 



Phosphorus weighed 5*6 grains, the proportional weight was therefore 0*3 grain 

 phosphorus to 07 cubic inch oxygen. 



Here again the proportions came out just as in (33.) and (34.), the intensity of ac- 

 tion being intermediate, less than the former and greater than the latter. 



(36.) Charged 18th December, 1844. 



No. 1. Phosphorus in pure oxygen associated with oxygen, great care being taken 

 to exclude atmospheric air: this arrangement having been kept in closed circuit for 

 twenty-four hours, gave a very feeble deflection of the galvanometer. 



Examined 15th February, 1845. The rise of liquid in the tube containing phos- 

 phorus was equal to 0*3 cubic inch, in that containing the associated oxygen = 0*05. 

 I find no note of the phosphorus being re-weighed ; probably I considered it useless, 

 as the consumption of oxygen in the associated tube was so very trifling, scarcely 

 sufficient to be distinguished from the effect of its solubility. 



(37.) Charged 23rd April, 1845. 



No. 1 . Phosphorus suspended in deutoxide of nitrogen associated with oxygen ; 

 weight of phosphorus = 4*3 grains. 



No. 2. Same without phosphorus. 



Examined May 27th, 1845. Galvanometer gave 25° permanent deflection in No. 1, 

 and 10° in No. 2. 



No. 1. Rise of liquid in deutoxide tube =07 cubic inch. 

 Rise of liquid in oxygen tube =0*6 cubic inch. 



No. 2. Rise of liquid in deutoxide tube =07 cubic inch. 

 In oxygen tube = 0*2 cubic inch. 



Weight of phosphorus 4*17 grains. 

 Consequently had lost 0^13 grain for 0*4 cubic inch of oxygen. 



In this and all the preceding experiments the residual gases were unchanged in 

 quality, and in this experiment it appears that the action of the deutoxide of nitrogen 

 and the oxygen was perfectly unafflected by the phosphorus, the consumption of deut- 

 oxide of nitrogen being exactly the same in both batteries. In another experiment, 

 which I did not record on account of a minute bubble of air having entered the 

 tubes Containing the deutoxide, the phosphorus appeared to have exercised a retard- 

 ing influence on the voltaic combination of deutoxide of nitrogen and oxygen ; this I 

 attributed to a slight deposit of phosphorous acid upon the platinum, by which its 

 catalytic power was deteriorated. 



(38.) It thus appears that the effect we have been examining, of the diff'usion of 



