192 
Mr. G. J. Knox’s Researches on Fluorine, 
Researches on Fluorine, By G. J. Knox, A,M,^ M,R,I,A,^ 
1. On the Insulation of Fluorine, 
In a paper on the Insulation of FInorine which the Rev. 
Thomas Knox and I had the honour of presenting to the 
Royal Irish Academy in the year ISSTtj and which was after- 
wards published in their Transactions, (vol. xviii. p. 127,) we 
proved that we had obtained fluorine in an insulated state, 
by showing its action upon bismuth, palladium, and gold; 
but being unable, from our mode of experimenting, to deter- 
mine what the nature of fluorine at ordinary temperatures 
might be, i. e. whether it be a solid, a liquid, or a gas, we 
suggested that such information might be obtained from the 
electrolization of a fluoride, using as the positive electrode 
some substance with which this energetic principle should 
not enter into chemical combination. 
Finding that, since the publication of our paper, no per- 
son had entered upon this field of investigation, I considered 
that the ultimate solution of this problem devolved as a point 
of duty upon m^^self ; under which impression I undertook 
the following experiments. 
A fluorspar stopper was made to fit the mouth of one of 
the fluorspar vessels described in our former paper; that 
part of the stopper within the vessel being made of the form 
of a semi-cone, the vertex of which reached nearly to the 
bottom of the vessel. Through the stopper were drilled ver- 
tically three small holes, one through its entire length, the 
other two through one-third of its length. In the first 
was inserted a platinum wire, to be used as the negative 
electrode; in one of the two small holes was inserted a thin 
platinum wire, bound round a piece of charcoal, intended to 
form the positive electrode ; in the other hole I put gold- 
leaf, litmus, or any other substance upon which I wished to 
try the action of the gas. Matters being so arranged, the 
fluorspar vessel was about half filled with anhydrous hydro- 
fluoric acid, the chemical purity of which had been previously 
ascertained. The platinum wire forming the negative elec- 
trode was raised a little above the bottom of the stopper, in 
order to allow the bubbles of hydrogen to rise through the 
perforation in the stepper, in place of mixing with the flu- 
orine in the vessel ; the wires were then placed in contact with 
the poles of a constant battery of sixty pair of plates, and 
* From the Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 
i See bond. & Edinb. Phil. Mag., vol. ix, p. 107. 
