C ’55 3 
VIII. On a Combination of Oxymuriatic Gas and Oxygene 
Gas. By Humphry Davy, Esq. LL. D. Sec. R. S. Prof. 
Chem. R. L 
Read February 21, 1811. 
I shall beg permission to lay before the Society the account 
of some experiments on a compound of oxymuriatic gas and 
oxygene gas, which, I trust, will be found to illustrate an inter- 
esting branch of chemical enquiry, and which offer some ex- 
traordinary and novel results. 
I was led to make these experiments in consequence of 
the difference between the properties of oxymuriatic gas pre- 
pared in different modes ; it would occupy a great length of 
time to state the whole progress of this investigation. It will, 
I conceive, be more interesting that I should immediately 
refer to the facts ; most of which have been witnessed by 
Members of this Body, belonging to the Committee of Che- 
mistry of the Royal Institution. 
The oxymuriatic gas prepared from manganese, either by 
mixing it with a muriate and acting upon it by sulphuric acid, 
or by mixing it with muriatic acid, is when the oxide of man- 
ganese is pure, and, whether collected over water or mercury, 
uniform in its properties ; its colour is a pale yellowish green ; 
water takes up about twice its volume ; and scarcely gains 
any colour ; the metals burn in it readily ; it combines with 
hydrogene without any deposition of moisture: it does not 
