OXY 
a feries of inveftigations which demonttrate the inaccuracy 
of Berthollet’s views, and in a great meafure re-e ith th 
correéinefs of thofe a Scheele: thefe will be not 
ed which jaa fir H. Davy to 
» 
ao 
= 
manganefe unites to the hydrogen of the muriatic acid, 
while the chlorine, the other element of the seas - 
is difengaged in the pure and gafeous form. The co 
nefs of this view may be demoiitrated by a more af ee ex- 
periment. Introduce into a glafs retort, fupplied with a ftop- 
cock, a fmall quantity of black oxyd of manganefe, exhauft 
the retort by means of an air-pump, and fill it with pure 
Ifa —— heat be now applied, a de- 
and a partial decompofition of 
By fuch ena of the nae acid as, the pro- 
portion of its elements ia be accurately afcertamed. Thus, 
if the number 1 be employed to reprefent i 33. 5 
Pee be the Ear for vapor and 34.5 (4 
rogen of which 
predic eee 
acid, which is in its turn decompofed by the oxyd of ma 
ganefe as above defcribed. 
Although chlorine can only be ena i collected in 
8 flowly abforbed 
ith that fluid, and 
{hould therefore be preferved in bottles with ground glafs 
Llopp 
Chlorine has the following propert 
Its colour is, as its name imports, a xAweos) greenifh- 
yellow. 
It has a peculiar {uffocating odour, and when refpired is 
inftantly fatal: even when largely diluted with atmofpheric 
air it produces highly deleterious effets, fuch as cough, 
catarrhal affection, and great irritation of the lungs. Thefe 
are circumftances which render much caution neceffary in 
eolleéting and examining the gas. 
Ore hundred adhe inches oF chlorine, at a mean tempera 
ture and preflure, weigh 76 grains. At the temperature of 
5 
Ox Y 
62° Fahrenheit, one volume of water diffolves about two of 
chlorine: the folution has the odour and colour of the gas : 
its tafte is naufeous and aftringent. By means of Wolfe’s 
en urning wax taper is plunged into a a bottle of 
chlorine, the brilliancy of its flame is greatly impaired ; it 
sites a dull red light, and throws off a large quantity of 
charco 
The attraGtion of chlorine for the metals is in moft in- 
ftances extremely energetic: when copper leaf, or antimony, 
or arfenic in powder, are thrown into the gas, they immedi- 
ately enter into vivid combuftion and form binary compounds, 
and if the oxyds of thefe and many other metals be heated 
in chlorine, oxygen is expelled, and fimilar compounds of 
the ad and one refult. 
and arfenic are made to combine ce aa: circum ftances. 
Combuttion, therefore, is to be regarded as the general 
refult of the exertion of powerful chemical attraGion, and 
not as dependent upon any peculiar fubftance, or as refulting 
from the decompafition of any diftin form of matter. 
hen fulphur is heated in chlorine the t wo bodies readily 
combine, and form a peculiar compound, which was firt de- 
{cribed by Dr. Thomfon of Edinburgh. See Sunpaur. 
There 3 re a 
former. It may be ob- 
tained by diftuling in a clofe veffel a mixture of corrofive 
fublimate and phofphorus. It is a limpid liquor, which 
emits acid fumes when expofed to air. See PHospHorus. 
For our knowledge of a compounds, and of their 
fingular properties, we are indebted to the experimental in- 
duftry of fir H. Davy. 
Charcoal and chlorine have not hitherto been combined. 
If a piece of charcoal be SS to whitenefs by means of 
the Voltaic battery, im a veffel of chlorine, there is no 
mutual a€tion: the colour of the gas remains unimpaired, 
and the charcoal unaltered: no carbonic acid is formed. 
This circumftance firlt led fir H. Davy to doubt the ac- 
curacy of Beithollet’s iveftigation, and to undertake the 
evies oF inquiries concerning the nature and i ad of 
chiorire, which have been alluded to. Chlorine, or oxy- 
mu eae acid gas of the Frengh nomenclature, was fuppofed 
=a] 
g. 
ignition, nor exc: flive cold 
It has ufually been Rated to folidify at 
freezing water; but if the gas be careful 
matter 1s depofite The concentrated aqueous feiarien 
freezes at 40°. 
_ no moifture is sang chlorine — no change- 
upon vegetable colours ; but e gas not been very 
aa dried by expofure ; muriate a aie. or : the 
coloure 
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