192 Mr. G. J. Knox's Researches 07i Fluorine. 



Researches on Fluorine. By G. J. Knox, A.M., M.R.I. A.* 



1. On the Insulation of Fluorine. 



" In a paper on the Insulation of FInorine which the Rev. 

 Thomas Knox and I had the honour of presenting to the 

 Royal Irish Academy in the year 1837tj f^nd which was after- 

 wards published in their Transactions, (vol. xviii. p. 127,) we 

 proved that we had obtained fluorine in an insulated state, 

 by showing its action upon bismuth, palladium, and gold ; 

 but being unable, from our mode of experimenting, to deter- 

 mine what the nature of fluorine at ordinary temperatures 

 might be, i. e. whether it be a solid, a liquid, or a gas, we 

 suggested that such information might be obtained from the 

 electrolization of a fluoride, using as the positive electrode 

 some substance with which this energetic principle should 

 not enter into chemical combination. 



" Finding that, since the publication of our paper, no per- 

 son had entered upon this field of investigation, I considered 

 that the ultimate solution of this problem devolved as a point 

 of duty upon myself; under which impression I undertook 

 the following experiments. 



" A fluorspar stopper was made to fit the mouth of one of 

 the fluorspar vessels described in our former paper ; that 

 part of the stopper within the vessel being made of the form 

 of a semi-cone, the vertex of which reached nearly to the 

 bottom of the vessel. Through the stopper were drilled ver- 

 tically three small holes, one through its entire length, the 

 other two through one-third of its length. In the first 

 was inserted a platinum wire, to be used as the negative 

 electrode; in one of the two small holes was inserted a thin 

 platinum wire, bound round a piece of charcoal, intended to 

 ibrm the positive electrode ; in the other hole I put gold- 

 leaf, litmus, or any other substance upon which I wished to 

 try the action of the gas. Matters being so arranged, the 

 fluorspar vessel was about half filled with anhydrous hydro- 

 fluoric acid, the chemical purity of which had been previously 

 ascertained. The platinum wire forming the negative elec- 

 trode was raised a little above the bottom of the stopper, in 

 order to allow the bubbles of hydrogen to rise through the 

 perforation in the stopper, in place of mixing with the flu- 

 orine in the vessel; the wires were then placed in contact with 

 the poles of a constant battery of sixty pair of plates, and 



* From the Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, 

 t See Lend. & Edinb. Phil. Mag., vol. ix. p. 107. 



