2o6 Mr. E. Howard on a new fulminating Mercury. 



resembling that from the liquor fumans of Libavius, was 

 emitted with ebullition. The mixture then threw down a dark- 

 coloured precipitate, which by degrees became nearly white. 

 This precipitate I separated by filtration ; and, observing it to be 

 crystallized in small acicular crystals, of a saline taste, and also 

 finding a part of the mercury volatilized in the white fumes, I 

 must acknowledge I was not altogether without hopes that 

 muriatic acid had been formed, and united to the mercurial 

 oxide. I therefore, for obvious reasons, poured sulphuric acid 

 upon the dried crystalline mass, when a violent effervescence 

 ensued, and, to my great astonishment, an explosion took place. 

 The singularity of this explosion induced me to repeat the 

 process several times ; and, finding that I always obtained the 

 same kind of powder, I prepared a quantity of it, and was led 

 to make the series of experiments which I shall have the 

 honour to relate in this paper, 



SECTION III. 



I first attempted to make the mercurial powder fulminate 

 by concussion; and for that purpose laid about a grain of it 

 upon a cold anvil, and struck it with a hammer, likewise cold : 

 it detonated slightly, not being, as I suppose, struck with a flat 

 blow ; for, upon using 3 or 4 grains, a very stunning disagree- 

 able noise was produced, and the faces both of the hammer and 

 the anvil were much indented. 



Half a grain or a grain, if quite dry, is as much as ought to 

 be used on such an occasion. 



The shock of an electrical battery, sent through 5 or 6 grains 

 of the powder, produces a very similar effect : it seems indeed, 



