XVII. On the condensation of several gases into liquids. By 
Mr. Faraday, Chemical Assistant in the Royal Institution. 
Communicated by Sir Humphry Davy, Bart. Pres. R. S. 
Read April 10, 1823. 
X had the honour, a few weeks since, of submitting to the 
Royal Society a paper on the reduction of chlorine to the 
liquid state. An important note was added to the paper by 
the President, on the general application of the means used 
in this case to the reduction of other gaseous bodies to the 
liquid state ; and in illustration of the process, the production 
of liquid muriatic acid was described. Sir Humphry Davy did 
me the honour to request I would continue the experiments, 
which I have done under his general direction, and the fol- 
lowing are some of the results already obtained : 
Sulphurous Acid. 
Mercury and concentrated sulphuric acid were sealed up 
in a bent tube, and, being brought to one end, heat was 
carefully applied, whilst the other end was preserved cool by 
wet bibulous paper. Sulphurous acid gas was produced 
where the heat acted, and was condensed by the sulphuric 
acid above ; but, when the latter had become saturated, the 
sulphurous acid passed to the cold end of the tube, and was 
condensed into a liquid. When the whole tube was cold, if 
the sulphurous acid were returned on to the mixture of 
