256 Dr. Beck on the Chlorides of Soda, Lime, fyc. 



correctness of the results is sufficiently proved in the ordinary 

 process of obtaining chlorate of soda. 



If then chlorate and muriate of soda (when dry, chloride 

 of sodium) result from the long continued action of a stream 

 of chlorine in a solution of soda, the chloride of soda, if it. 

 existed at all, must have existed previous to the formation of 

 these acids and their action upon the soda. But as we shall 

 hereafter see, there is, previous to these decompositions, noth- 

 ing in the compound which could not have been obtained by 

 passing chlorine through water without the addition of soda ; 

 much less is there any evidence of a combination, in definite 

 proportions between the chlorine and soda. 



If now instead of the solution of soda we employ the car- 

 bonate of that alkali, nearly the same phenomena will be 

 presented upon the introduction of chlorine. Following the 

 formula of Labarraque, we shall obtain his disinfecting liquid, 

 and that as Mr. R. Philips and Mr. Faraday have asserted, 

 without the evolution of a particle of carbonic acid. If this 

 is the fact, and the authority of these chemists is perhaps con- 

 clusive upon a matter so easy of proof, it follows that the 

 carbonate of soda remains entire in the solution. 



But when this process is long continued, decompositions 

 take place, similar to those which have been previously men- 

 tioned. Chloric and muriatic acids are formed, and these 

 combine with the soda, and as a necessary consequence car- 

 bonic acid is disengaged. 



Desirous of ascertaining whether there was any thing pe- 

 culiar in the solution of soda and the carbonate, I prepared 

 a saturated solution of sulphate of soda, in water at 50° F. 

 and passed through it from two to three volumes of chlorine. 

 The solution assumed a yellowish color, and bleached indigo 

 and turmeric powerfully. The same results were produced 

 when I charged in like manner a solution of alum. In effi- 

 ciency, so far as bleaching is concerned, I could discover no 

 difference in the two last compounds and a like solution of 

 carbonate of soda and chlorine. 



Let us now pause for a moment, and bring into a narrow 

 compass the facts which have been stated. It has been 

 shown that these bleaching liquids may be formed : 



1st By passing chlorine into a solution of soda. 



2d. By passing chlorine into a solution of carbonate of 

 soda. 



