Igg tXrERlMENTS ON MUMAtlC ACT© .GAS. 



lion; nor is any discovered to have existed in it, when It is 

 Experim<-n. decomposed. Its combination with muriatic dcid gas is thu« 

 tumctucii. calculated, I conceive, to afford what is so desirable, yet dif- 

 ficult to attain in the present question, an experimenfum 

 crucis. If, on combininpf dry ammoniacal gas with muriatic 

 acid gas, no water is obtained, the result is so far in con- 

 formity to Mr. Davy's theory ; and it may be concluded, 

 that the water obtained in other combinations of muriatic 

 »cid gas has not preexisted in it, but is directly formed. If, 

 on the contrary, water is obtained ; as it does not preexist ia 

 the ammoniacal gas, and as there is no such mode of ac- 

 counting for its production as in those cases where oxigeh i»^ 

 present, the water must be inferred to have existed in the 

 muriaiic acid gas, and the truth of the common opinion is of 

 course established. To ascertain the fact the following ex- 

 periments were made. 

 Dry atnrooni. Ammoniacal gas was dried carefully by exposing it ovet 

 bUiert w'ith'dT" ^'"y quicksilver to the action of quicklime. Muriatic acid 

 mutiaiic acid gas received over dry quicksilver was combined with it, to 

 *•**• neutralization : or rather leaving a very slight excess of al- 



kali, to guard more effectually against any excess of acid, 

 which might communicate to the pioduct a slight degree of 

 deliquescence. Thirty cubic inches of muriatic acid gas, 

 and thirty-two cubic inches of amniontacal gas, were em- 

 ployed. The white spongy salt was collected from the sides 

 The product **^ the jar. It gave indications of humidity: for, although 

 which h.icl the surface of it appeared loose and spongy, it could not be 

 jSoUiurr"*"^ entirely detached from the glass, but adhered slightly to it; 

 in removing it by a knife, it spread a little over the surface, 

 as any substance very slightly moist and clammy would do; 

 and, when pressed together by a knife, its parts adhered 

 J .. . slightly. It was put immediately into a small glass retort 

 iutilled, ' with a long neck, which was connected with a small receiver 

 having two tubulutures, into one of which the tube of the 

 retort was Httcd by grinding, and into the other a long 

 straight tube of narrow diameter, open at both extremities, 

 was inserted. The retort being placed in sand, heat was 

 •nd moUture appl'^d by a lamp. In a short time a thin filn* of moisture 

 condenied in condensed in the neck of the retort, which increased and 

 letort. collected into siuall globules, v/hich accumulated, and 



trickled 



