72 



Dr. J. Stenhouse on Chlorine- and [Dec. 21, 



spheric pressure. It corrodes glass, fumes strongly in the air, and has a 

 characteristic and very powerful dusty odour, not very unlike that of a 

 mixture of chloride of sulphur and sulphurous anhydride. Sulphur 

 rapidly decomposed an aqueous solution of argeDtic fluoride. 



Sulphurous anhydride passed over fluoride of silver at an incipient red 

 heat, produced little or no decomposition of the silver-salt. Vaporous 

 fluoride of sulphur also produced no visible effect. 



By passing the vapour of liquid chloride of sulphur over the fluoride in 

 a state of fusion, chemical action occurred, a vapour was evolved which 

 corroded glass and possessed a dusty odour, but did not condense to a 

 liquid; it was probably fluoride of sulphur. The saline residue consisted of 

 argentic chloride and sulphide. A solution of argentic fluoride was de- 

 composed by agitation with liquid chloride of sulphur, hydrofluoric acid 

 being evolved, and argentic chloride and sulphide produced. 



Argentic fluoride did not dissolve in bisulphide of carbon. By passing 

 the vapour of the latter substance over the silver-salt at a red heat, a 

 chemical change took place, and a fuming acid vapour was evolved, in 

 accordance with the following equation : — 4AgF+ CS 2 =2Ag 2 S + CF 4 . A 

 solution of bromine or iodine in bisulphide of carbon was rapidly decolo- 

 rized by agitation with particles of argentic fluoride, and the liquid ac- 

 quired the odour of tetrafluoride of carbon. 



December 21, 1871. 

 GEORGE BIDDELL AIRY, C.B., President, in the Chair. 



The following communications were read : — ■ 



I. " Contributions to the History of Orcin. — No. II. Chlorine- and 

 Bromine-substitution Compounds of the Orcins." By John 

 Stenhouse, LL.D., F.R.S., &c* Received October 11, 1871. 



Schunckf, and subsequently the author of this paper*, many years ago 

 studied the action of chlorine upon orcin, and obtained more or less crys- 

 talline products, contaminated with a brown resinous matter, from which 

 however, they did not succeed in separating the crystals in a state of purity. 

 In the year 1864 De Luynes § obtained a crystalline substance by acting 

 on orcin with a mixture of potassium chlorate and hydrochloric acid. De 

 Luynes states it to be trichlororcine, C 7 H. Cl 3 2 , and in Kekule's * Benzol- 

 derivate ' the melting-point is given at 159°. 



* A preliminary notice of several of the compounds described in this paper appeared 

 in the Chem. News, vol. xxiii. p. 230, and Zeits. Chem. vol. vii. p. 229. 

 f Ann. Chem. Pharm. vol. liv. p. 271. 



+ Phil. Trans. 1848, p. 8P, and Ann. Chem. Pharm. vol. lxvii. p. 97. 



§ Ann. Chem. Pharm. vol. crxx. p. 34; Kekule's ' Benzolderivate,' vol. i. p. 388. 



