124 



EXPERIMENTS ON MURIATIC ACID GAS. 



natnre of the relation between murialic and dximuriatic 

 acids m'dv be determined. Either it may be shown, that 

 ©ximuriatic acid does or does not contain oxigen ; or it may 

 be proved, that muriatic acid gas does or does not contain 

 Walter. 

 Dirertmode, jf \i be proved, that oximuriatic acid contains oxigen, 

 then it must be regarded as a compound of that element 

 with muriatic acid, and the discussion is at once tenui- 

 nated. 

 Indirect, from The other mode, though less direct, is equally conclu- 

 osjmBrratic give. In the expeiiment of the mutual action of oxi- 

 ccn foi'mJng muriatic gas and hidrogen gas, muriatic acid gas is the sole 

 Hiuiiaik acid product. Mr. Davy j'egards it as a compound formed by 

 their union ; and, if it can be shown to be the real acid 

 free f»om water, or any other ponderable matter, this is the 

 conclusion, which appears necessarily to follow. But, if 

 muriatic acid gas contain water, the conclu'-ion is inadmis- 

 sible ; the origin of this water must be accounted for; and 

 there is no other mode of doing this, but by the established 

 theory, that oximuriatic acid is a compound of muriatic 

 acid and oxigen ; and that, in its action on hidrogen gas, 

 its oxigen combines with the hidrogen, forming water, 

 which the muriatic acid, its other element, holds combined 

 with it iri the gaseous form. The proof therefore of the 

 existence of water in muriatic acid gas is a conclusive proof 

 of the truth of that theory, and at the same time a demon- 

 stration of the falsity of the opposite hypothesis. My 

 former experiments were designed to gain proof of the exist- 

 Atteropts to ence of oxigen in oximuriatic acid : those wliiclvl have now 

 fciab ish ihis. to state were undertaken with the view of obtaining evi- 

 dence of the existence of water in muriatic acid gas. 

 t>«fficalty in The difficulty is to find in this mode of investigation an 



the expt^rt- experiment, which shall be conclusive. Such is the facility 

 Tiientsaanut- . . *' 



liiigof exi-i^ with which both hypotheses may be adapted to the phe- 



nati«n either noiisena, that there is scarcely a case of chemical action 

 way. , . 



exerted either by muriatic or oximuriatic acid, in which an 



explanation may not be given in conformity to the one us 

 well as to the other. And although the explanations afforded 

 by the common system are less complicated than those of 

 the other, and me more conforrasble to analogy from simi- 

 lar 



