i^o Mr. Henry's Account of Experiments 



fore, with examining attentively the effects of the electric fluid 

 on the muriatic acid gas, without admixture.* 



SECTION I. 



On the Effects of Electricity on Muriatic Acid Gas. 



When strong electrical shocks were passed through a portion 

 of muriatic acid gas, confined in a glass tube over mercury, the 

 following appearances took place. The bulk of the gas, after 20 

 or 30 shocks, was considerably diminished; and a white deposit 

 appeared on the inner surface of the tube, which considerably 

 obscured its transparency. In some instances, both the con- 

 traction and deposit were much more remarkable than in others. 

 The gas which issued from muriate of soda, soon after the affu- 

 sion of sulphuric acid, and while the charge was yet warm, 

 exhibited these appearances in an eminent degree. Of this gas, 

 307 measures were reduced, by 20 shocks, to 227, or were con- 

 tracted nearly one-fourth. Gas from the same materials, after 

 they had continued working for some hours, was diminished, by 

 similar treatment, only about a twelfth. These effects, therefore, 

 it seemed probable, depended in some measure on the presence 

 of moisture ; and I accordingly found, that muriatic acid gas, 

 after more than a week's exposure to muriate of lime, brought 

 into contact with it immediately after cooling from a state of 



* The gases submitted to the action of electricity, in the following experiments, 

 were confined in straight glass tubes of various diameters, armed at the sealed end with 

 a conductor of gold, or of platina, but generally of the latter metal. The shocks were 

 as strong as could be given without breaking the tubes, which, notwithstanding every 

 precaution, were often shattered by the force of the explosion. Each measure of gas 

 is equal to the bulk occupied by a grain of mercury. 4~? 



o / 2 



