ON THE PREPARATION SODA AND OP CHLORINE. 49 



a patent for Great Britain, by William XIahner.* He however pro- 

 posed to prepare the chlorine in the usual manner, from peroxide of 

 maganese and muriatic acid, a.nd mix it with sulphurous acid and 

 steam in the leaden chamber. The mixture of sulphuric and mu- 

 riatic acids here condensed, he proposed to treat by distillation, in 

 order to separate the two. When it is considered that double the 

 amount of muriatic acid produced in the process must be consumed 

 in producing the necessary chlorine, the economy of the method 

 seems exceedingly doubtful. 



The mode I propose differs from that referred to above only in 

 the method of preparing the chlorine, which is that already des- 

 cribed in the beginning of this paper. By placing the usual fur- 

 naces for burning pyrites or sulphur, near the furnace for pro- 

 ducing chlorine, as described in the first part of this paper, and con- 

 necting the exit pipes from these furnaces, with each other, and 

 with a pipe from a steam-boiler, and drawing the gases thus 

 mixed, either by means of an artificial draught, or an exhauster, 

 through a condenser containing coke moistened with water, a 

 mixture of sulphuric and muriatic acids would result. This mix- 

 ture concentrated in leaden vessels, would yield sulphuric acid, 

 while from the condensation of the vapors given off in this opera- 

 tion, muriatic acid would result. 



Another method of preparing these acids is by calcining to- 

 gether 59 parts iron pyrites, 58^ parts of common salt, and 324 

 parts peroxide of iron, f Sulphurous acid is evolved at the com- 

 mencement and chlorine towards the end of the calcination, in 

 almost the proportions necessary for forming with water, sul- 

 phuric and muriatic acids. The residue consists of 336 parts of 

 a mixture containing in 100 parts — 



Peroxide of iron 79.5 



Sulphate of soda 19.2=4.31 sulphur 



Chloride of sodium 1.3 . . by difference 



100. 



This process should be carried on in two calcining furnaces, of 

 the construction already mentioned in this paper. The second 

 furnace should not be charged with the mixture of peroxide of 

 iron, salt, and pyrites, until the charge in the first furnace begins 



* Repertory of Patent Inventions, December, 1854. 

 t Vide Canadian Naturalist, p. 196. 

 Can. Nat. 4 Vol. VIII. 



