IN GASES : HYDROGEN, CARBONIC OXIDE, AND OXYGEN. 
G43 
Table VL-—Explosion of dry carbonic oxide and electrolytic gas. 
No. 
Combustible gases cont tin in 100 vols. 
Ratio of carbonic 
acid to water formed 
C0 2 
~ H_0 
Carbonic oxide. 
Hydrogen. 
1 
83-7 
16-3 
2-07 
2 
81-8 
18-2 
1-77 
3 
80-8 
19-2 
1-62 
4 
78-1 
21-9 
1 29 
5 
77-6 
22-4 
1-27 
6 
77-4 
22 6 
1-31 
7 
75-8 
24-2 
1-08 
8 
75-5 
24-5 
105 
9 
734 
26-6 
•97 
10 
72 - 6 
27-4 
1-00 
11 
69-3 
30-7 
•74 
12 
68-9 
3M 
•73 
13 
667 
33-3 
•74 
14 
• 
53-5 
46 - 5 
•42 
While I was making these experiments I heard that Professor Horstmann, of 
Heidelberg, bad already published a paper'"' in which he ha.d shown that Bunsen’s 
results were vitiated through his having exploded the gases in a eudiometer saturated 
with aqueous vapour. Horstmann had repeated Bunsen’s experiments using a dry 
eudiometer. With all mixtures he found less carbonic oxide and more hydrogen burnt 
than Bunsen found with similar mixtures. He then made a series with a wet eudio¬ 
meter and found that when water was present more carbonic oxide and less hydrogen 
was burnt than when the gases were dry. He concluded rightly that some of the 
steam already present was reduced during the explosion by the excess of carbonic 
oxide. He then showed, by making comparative experiments with and without the 
previous addition of carbonic acid, that a similar action takes place between the 
carbonic acid added and the excess of hydrogen. With mixtures of carbonic oxide 
and electrolytic gas, less carbonic oxide and more hydrogen is burnt when carbonic 
acid is added to the mixture before explosion. 
In these experiments Horstmann proved conclusively that the alteration in the 
proportion of carbonic oxide and hydrogen burnt took place gradually and not 
per scdtum. To compare Horstmann’s results with mine, I have interpolated from the 
curve given in his paper the ratios of carbonic acid to water formed by explosion of 
mixtures of similar composition to mine. These ratios I found to be always smaller 
than those I had obtained. In the last column of the table I have compared in a 
similar way the new set of experiments given by Bunsen* in the second edition of his 
“ Gasometry.” This series was made with dry gases which were exploded by a chain of 
sparks simultaneously sent through the length of the eudiometer. By fusing short 
* Verh. ctes Heidelb. naturf. med. Vereins, N.S., I., 3. 
t Gasometrisclie Methoden, ll te . Auflage. 1877. 
4 N 2 
