Condensation of Several Gases into Liquids. 335 



iafiany or more powerful explosions. Tubes which have 

 held fluid carbonic acid well for two- or three weeks togeth- 

 er, have upon some increase in the warmth of the weather, 

 spontaneously exploded with great violence ; and the pre- 

 caution of glass masks, goggles, &c. which are at all times 

 necessary in pursuing these experiments, are particularly so 

 with carbonic acid. 



*' Carbonic acid is a limpid, coulourless bod) , extremely 

 fluid, and floating upon the other contents of the tube. It 

 distils readily and rapidly at the difference of temperature 

 between 32° and 0°. Its refractive power is much less 

 than that of water. No dimunition of temperature to which 

 I have been able to submit it, has altered its appearance. 

 In endeavouring to open the tubes at one end, they have 

 uniformly burst into fragments with powerful explosions. 



'• Its vapour exerted a pressure of thirty six atmospheres, 

 at a temperature of 32° 



'^ Euchlorine. — Fluid euchlorine was obtained by inclo- 

 sing chlorate of potash and sulphuric acid in a tube, and 

 leaving them to act on each other for twenty four hours. 

 In ,that lime there had been much action, the mixture was 

 lof a dark reddish brown, and the atmosphere of a bright yel- 

 ow colour. The mixture was then heated up to 100°, 

 and the unoccupied end of the lube cooled to 0° ; by de- 

 grees the mixture lost its dark colour, and a very fluid ethe- 

 real looking substance condensed. It was not miscible 

 with a small portion of the sulphuric acid which lay beneath 

 it J but when returned on to the mass of salt and acid, h was 

 gradually absorbed, rendering the mixture of a much deep- 

 er colour even than itself. 



" Euchlorine thus obtained is a very fluid transparent 

 substance, of a deep yellow colour. A lube containing a 

 portion of it in the clean end, was opened at the opposite 

 extremity ; there was a rush of euchlorine vapour, but rhe 

 salt plugged up the aperture ; whilst clearing this away, the 

 whole lube burst with a violent explosion, except the 

 small end in a cloth in my hand, where the euchlorine pre- 

 viously lay, but the fluid had all disappeared 



" Jsfitrous Oxide. — Some nitrate of ammonia, previously 

 made as dry as could be by partial decompoHtion, by heat in 

 the air, was sealed up in a bent tube, and then heated in one 

 end, the other being preserved cool. By repeating the dis- 



