iq6 Mr. Henry's Account of Experiments 



muriatic acid be capable of decomposition by carbon, it might 

 be expected to be destroyed by this process ; and the exact 

 quantity of acid decomposed, and the nature and quantity of 

 the products, would thus be easily determined. I electrified, 

 therefore, the muriatic acid and carbonated hydrogen gases, 

 with the most scrupulous attention to the phenomena and re- 

 sults. That the electric .fluid might not be misapplied, in decom- 

 posing the water of the carbonated hydrogen gas, it was kept 

 more than a week, before use, over quick lime, introduced to it 

 while yet hot. 



Exper. 10. Of this carbonated hydrogenous gas, 186 mea- 

 sures were expanded, by 1 30 shocks, to 2 1 1 ; that is, the gas was 

 increased about •§- its bulk. 



Exper. 11. Of the same gas, 84 measures were mixed with 

 116 of muriatic acid gas, dried by muriate of lime. By 120 

 shocks, the mixture was a little dilated. After the admission of 

 a drop or two of water, there remained 9 1 measures ; i. e. the 

 addition of permanent gas was 7 measures, or about as much as 

 might have been expected from the muriatic gas alone. 



Exper. 12. Eighty-three measures of dry carbonated hydro- 

 genous gas, with 89 of muriatic acid gas, received 200 shocks. 

 The permanent residue, after the admission of water, was 101 

 measures : the addition, therefore, amounted to 18. Of the 

 added 18, 6 may be accounted for by the decomposition of the 

 water of the muriatic gas, and 10 by that of the carbonated 

 hydrogenous gas. There remain, therefore, only 2 measures 

 that can be supposed to be produced from the muriatic acid gas; 

 a quantity too small to afford grounds for supposing them to 

 arise from decomposed acid. 



