ACTION OF CHLORINE ON OIL OF TURPENTINE, i^ 



versation with my chemical friends, and in a lecture on chlo- 

 rine and mnriatic acid, which I delivered to the Mathematical 

 Society on the 22d of February last. 



To avoid the suspicion, that any part of what I have now to Date of the 

 communicate is borrowed from Mr. J. Davy's paper, I think ^^P"'™^" '• 

 it best to transcribe, verbatim, my memorandum of the first 

 experiment, in'which I combined chlorine with oil of turpen- 

 tine. It was performed some time between the 24th of July, 

 and 1st of November, 1808, those being the dates of the ex- 

 periments immediately preceding and following that which I 

 ana about to transcribe, and which in my memorandum I had 

 omitted to date. The following is the copy of the memoran- 

 dum. 



" Experiment with Oil of Turpentine. 



" Wishing to ascertain the effect of oxymuriatic gas on oil of Oxymur. gas 

 " turpentine, I caused the vapour of the latter and the oxymu- ^"^^^^1,^ "/ ^"jj"* 

 " riaticgas to pass together through a glass tube conducting into state of va« 

 " a glass receiver. There was formed by this process a very po^r. a hea- 

 r. u 1 • •, , . . . . ,. , . ''7, th'f^k oil 



" lieavy white Oil, which sunk immediately in water, was as was formed, 



** thick as otta of roses ; smelt and tasted very much like nut- ^'^• 

 '' megs, but communicated rather a more caustic sensation to 

 " the tongue. I did not observe any disengagement of gas, 

 *' arising from the chemical combination that was going on j 

 " very little was expelled from the receiver, and that, I believe, 

 " was only oxymuriatic. I did not collect and examine it, to 

 *' ascertain whether any other gas was present, but the smell 

 " proved that that gas was evolved ; and as it only took place 

 " when the extrication of the oxymuriatic acid from the mate- 

 " rials that produced it was violent, there is some reason for 

 " thinking it was not contaminated with any other gas, which 

 '*^ might be supposed to be formed from the oil of turpentine. 

 ** The change produced on the oil of turpentine in this expert - 

 " ment is very great, from an exceedingly light and thin fluid 

 " to a very heavy and viscid one, differing likewise totally in 

 " its smell and taste." 



I have since formed a similar fluid by passing a large quantity Repetition of 

 of chlorine gas through a small quantity of oii of turpentine. ^'^^ expen- 

 The^product of this experiment I exhibited to the Mathema- 

 tical Society during the lecture before mentioned 3 and I have a 

 O 2 liltU 



