228 



NATURE or OXIMURIATIC ACID. 



circum- 

 dtaiices. 



Gatbonic ox- 

 ide convprted 

 m to acid by 

 oxirouriatic 

 gas. 



mentalist is subjected, who undertakes the examinatidn of 

 experiments n| vvhich only a general account is ^iveu ; and, 

 from both these considerations,! am induced to MiS|'t nd«ny 

 experimental investigation of this subject uniil the more 

 full account, which Mr. J. Davy announces he is to give of 

 his experiments, is publisijed. At present, I shall admit the 

 production of this new gas, and shall otier merely a few ob- 

 servations on its relation to the present controvers}'. 



In rpy ti»'st communication T had stated, that, when oxi-? 

 muriatic acid, carbonic oxide, and hidrogen gasses are sub- 

 mitted to mutual action, the carbonic oxide is converted 

 almost intirely into carbonic acid. This result, inconsistent 

 with Mr, Davy's hypothesis of the nature of mnriatic and 

 oxi muriatic acids, was attempted to be explained by the as-» 

 sumption, that a portion of the water introduced to absorb 

 the product of the action of the gasses had suffered decOTn-< 

 position, and that from this oxigen had been communi- 

 cated to the carbopic oxide, so as to convert it into carboniq 

 acid. Messrs. Davys, therefore, in repeating these experi- 

 alleg^dtobe ments, employed ammonia to condense the product, and 



from thede- ^j^j^ ^j^ij. ymi^ition they fouiKl the carbonic oxide to remain 



compositicn oi / 



water, unchanged, 



This disproved. Though satisfied, that there was no probability in this aSf 

 .sumptimi of water V)eing decomposed, I thought it proper to 

 repeat tlie experiment with the variat on oi' condensing the 

 product by ammonia. The result was still the satpe as th»t 

 which I had before obtained. Nearly the whole of the car- 

 bonic oxide h^ddigjippearedjanda concrete salt w fsobtained, 

 which effervesced strongly on the contact of a diluted acid, 

 ^ud also gfive indicfitions of the presence of<'arbonie acid 

 by the test of muriate of barytes. J concluded therefore, 

 .^s I believe any chemist would have done from these results^ 

 ^* that the production of parbonic acid in this experiment 

 •' was^estabbsbed beyond the possibility of doubt.*' 



Precisely the same results have now been obtained by Mr. 

 J. Davy. Repeating my experiment on the exposure of 

 themixture of the three gasses to light, he detected, "after 

 .the addition of ammonia, no traces of carbonic Qjiide": and 

 ^t perceived, as I had stated, "an effervescence of the amt- 

 nioniacal salt formed with nitric acid;" ao *fferv«sce«C€ 



whifh 



The same re- 

 sult obtained 

 by Mr. J. 

 t)avy. 



