Messrs. Cross and Bevan on Pseudo- Carbons. 329 



state and after ignition in chlorine gas; and we found that the 

 amount of sulphurous acid formed was inversely as the per- 

 centage of carbon, those which had been ignited in chlorine 

 exerting no reducing-action whatever. We have not been 

 able to find that this fact is at all generally recognized; and 

 therefore we do not think it superfluous to state it here, espe- 

 cially as it is an important criterion of the position of any 

 pseudo-carbon in the series. 



There is yet one other important beaidng of these views 

 which remains to be stated; and that is, their relation to the 

 Chemical Theory of Gunpowder. If from the analysis of a 

 normal ordnance gunpowder* the atomic ratios of the consti- 

 tuents, including the hydrogen and oxygen present in the 

 charcoal, be calculated, we obtain the following numbers: — 



Pseudo -Carbon. 



KX0 3 S C H 



13 7 16 7 2 



(excluding ash and water). 



Any chemical theory of gunpowder which fails to gire an 

 account of the H and 0, existing, as they do, in such important 

 (molecular) quantity, is necessarily incomplete. Those who 

 are, by their special circumstances and experience, in a position 

 to investigate this point, should certainly measure the influence 

 of the hydrogen, and the compounds of which it is a con- 

 stituent, upon the properties of gunpowder. What, as an 

 extreme case, would be the behaviour of a powder made from 

 charcoal after ignition in chlorine ? Is it not at least certain 

 that the character of a gunpowder would be influenced by the 

 chemical constitution of its " carbonaceous ; ' constituents ? 



On the more practical side, have we any certainty that the 

 pseudo-carbons used in the manufacture of gunpowder are 

 those best adapted to the purpose ? This is surely a matter 

 that should not be allowed to rest on an empirical basis ; and 

 we are not aware that it has received a thorough scientific 

 treatment. We refrain from further discussion at the present 

 time ot this and cognate subjects : we shall have achieved our 

 object if the term proposed by us as alone applicable to the sub- 

 stances of which we have treated recommend itself to the judg- 

 ment of chemists, and still more if the recognition which it 

 contains of their distinctly non-elementary character prove an 

 aid to classification. 



* Karolyi, Phil. Mag. October 1863. 



