]50 



EXPERIMENTS ON MURIATIC ACID CAS. 



making toge- 

 ther 0. jft oi 

 0-2 of the 

 weight of the 

 acid. 



The produc. 

 tion of water 

 at least de- 

 monstrated : 



the quantity, which appeared in the first stage of the expe« 

 riment. This, supposing it to be derived from the muriatic 

 acid gas (and, as has been shown, this can be the only origin 

 assigned so it,) gives 2*6 of water in 30 cubic inches, or 1 1'7 

 grains of the acid equal to | of its weight. The quantity of 

 carbonic acid, (and this could be estimated with accuracy,) 

 taking it at one cubic inch, contains as much oxigen as is 

 contained in '5 gr. of water, and this of itself added to the 

 quantity obtained in the first stage of the experiment makes 

 the water amount to ^ nearly of the weight of the acid ; 

 with the addition therefore of the moisture visibly condensed 

 in the tube and jars, the quantity cannot be less than be- 

 tween a fourth and fifth of its weight. 



It may be remarked too, that, though the quantity ob- 

 tained in this stage of the experiment may not admit of being 

 estimated with perfect precision, there is no source of 

 fallacy with regard to its production. The charcoal had 

 ceased to give out gas at a heat of much higher intensity 

 than that to which it was afterward exposed in mixture with 

 the muriate; the water therefore, or the elastic fluid ob- 

 tained, could not have been derived irom it; and indeed 

 this water appeared at the very commencement of the expe- 

 riment, when the heat was scarcely equal to that of ignition. 

 If the charcoal afforded any gas too, it could only be a por- 

 tion of the carburetted hidrogen, and on the quantity of this 

 produced no stress has been laid in drawing the conclusion 

 from the experiment. And it is to be repeated, that the 

 existence of water in the muriatic acid gas to the extent at 

 least of ^ of its weight is demonstrated in the first stage of 

 the experiment, and that, from what must remain in 

 the compound salt, the quantity must be greater ths^n 

 this. 



Not ouly is the presenc^e of water demonstrated by this 

 experiment, but the quantity is nearly the same as that in* 

 dicated by ti)e action of other substances, which are sup- 

 posed by Mr. Davy to form it by affording oxigen. Thus 

 ^hat had been Gay-Lussac and Thenard have infeired from the action 

 mferredfrom of oxide of silver or of lead on muriatic acid gas, that it 

 contains veay nearly a fourth of its weight of water; and 

 tlie quantity, which may be fairly inferred from the preced- 

 ing 



and the pro- 

 portion infer 

 red from the 

 aboTc ex])e- 

 riments coin- 

 cides •with 



