228 DR. DAUBENY ON THE OCCURRENCE OF IODINE AND BROMINE 
Unfortunately, however, the salts which are contained in or deposited from 
the ethereal solution after the addition of the soda, appear to be of a very 
mixed description, consisting not only of the hydrobromate and bromate of 
soda, but also of the muriate and chlorate, together with a little uncombined 
alkali, if the proportion of the sodium to the bromine is not very nicely ad- 
justed. I therefore began by heating the whole product sufficiently to convert 
the bromate of soda into the bromide, and the chlorate into the chloride, of 
sodium ; and afterwards, in order to ensure the union of any alkali which 
may have been in excess with carbonic acid, I dissolved the whole in water 
impregnated with that gas. The solution was then brought to dryness, and 
strong alcohol added to separate the bromide of sodium as much as possible 
from the other ingredients ; after which, the alcoholic solution, having been 
evaporated, was re-dissolved in water, and nitrate of silver added to it in order 
to form the insoluble bromide of silver, the weight of which, when dried and 
melted, would determine that of the bromine present, every 100 grains 
according to M. Balard indicating 41.1 of this principle. 
From the weight of the precipitate, however, I felt myself obliged to make 
a large deduction, in proportion to the quantity of alcohol employed, for the 
chloride of sodium at the same time taken up ; having ascertained by a pre- 
vious experiment how much common salt a given quantity of this menstruum 
could dissolve. The latter part of the process, however, being liable to some 
uncertainty, I should have preferred, had my engagements permitted, re-exa- 
mining the waters on the spot, and operating on such quantities of them as 
would have enabled me to extract appreciable quantities of bromine. This 
indeed I have done in the case of the Middlewich water, but not with sufficient 
attention to the quantities employed and obtained, to enable me to calculate 
in this manner the exact proportions between them : with regard to the other 
springs, the quantity of water which I could conveniently transport to my 
laboratory was not such as to enable me to pursue with much hope of success 
this particular method. It is therefore with diffidence that I offer provisionally 
the statements given in the Table, as an approximation to the relative quan- 
tities of bromine existing in some of our English springs, calculated according 
to the scheme of analysis above stated; and shall hope at some future and 
not very distant period to obtain results more worthy of reliance, should my 
