ON OXYCARBURETED HYDROGEN. 5 2 S 



It is not improbable, that this oxycarbureted 

 hydrogen gas is composed of an atom of carbon, 

 an atom of oxygen, and an atom of hydrogen. If 

 that supposition be well-founded, the proportion 

 of oxygen must exceed a little what we have ob- 

 tained by our analysis. This would probably have 

 been the case, if we had founded our analysis up- 

 on any of the succeeding experiments, rather than 



the first of the preceding table. 



] 



The preceding experiments, I flatter myself, 

 entitle us to conclude, that two gaseous com- 

 pounds of hydrogen and carbon exist. To the 

 first we may give the usual name of Carbureted 

 Hydrogen ; to the second the name of Supercarbu- 

 reted Hydrogen, as it contains very nearly twice as 

 much carbon as the first gas does. There exists 

 also a gaseous compound, consisting of oxygen, 

 carbon, and hydrogen ; but it differs in its pro- 

 perties from all other inflammable gases hitherto 

 examined. The reason why the inflammable 

 gases from vegetable and animal substances differ 

 so much from each other is, that they usually hold 

 an oil in solution, and are mixed with variable 

 quantities of carbonic oxide gas. 



