Essay upon tJie Compounds of Cyanogen. 337 



C 2 atoms. Cyanogen, 52 17.93 



Argento-cyanic acid, < 1 " Silver, 110 37.93 



( 1 '' Hydrogen, 1 .34 



^1 ",^ Silver, 110 37.93 



Oxide of silver, < or per cent. 



( 1 " Oxygen, S 2.76 



W t ( 1 " Oxygen, 8 2.76 



'^^^^^' ( 1 " Hydrogen, 1 .34 



290 99.99 



For the purpose of exhibiting more distinctly the coincidence exist- 

 ing between these numbers and those obtained by Liebig and Gay- 

 Lussac, I will arrange them so as to admit of an easy comparison, 

 and place them side by side. 



Hypothetical constitution. 



In acid. In base. 



Silver, 37.93 -{- 37.93 ^ ' 



In base. In water. 

 Oxygen, 2.76 + 2.76 = 



In acid. 



Cyanogen, 17.93 -\ = 



In aeid. In water. 

 Hydrogen, 0.34 + 0.34 = 



99.99 100.000 



This coincidence, striking as it is, would be rendered much closer, 

 if the loss of nearly five and a half per cent, in the experiments, were, 

 after making due allowance for the hydrogen undoubtedly present, 

 proportionately divided amongst the other constituents. The hypo- 

 thetical and experimental numbers would then be nearly identical. 



Fulminating silver may therefore be regarded as a compound of 

 one atom of argento-cyanic acid, one atom of oxide of silver, and one 

 of water ; or, conceiving the hydrogen of the acid to exist as water 

 in combination with the oxygen of the base, it would consist of 

 Cyanide of silver, - - 2 atoms. 



Water, - - - - 2 " 



The fulminating mercury, which is prepared in the same way as 

 the fulminating silver, so closely resembles it in properties that little 

 doubt can be entertained that it is analogous in constitution, although 

 it has not been submitted to ultimate analysis. It may therefore be 

 regarded as a mercurio-cyanate of mercury and the acid which it 

 yields, by a treatment similar to that adopted with the fulminating sil- 

 ver, as the murcurio-cyanic acid. 



Vol. XVIIi.— No. 2. 43 



