546 
DR. H. DEBUS ON THE CHEMICAL THEORY OF GUNPOWDER. 
on the other products, amounting in the case of potassic carbonate, potassic sulphate, 
and potassic disulphide generally to less than 0'1 of a molecule. (See note, p. 526.) 
Equation (II.) expresses only the quantitative relations between the powder con¬ 
stituents and the products of explosion; the reactions which occur during explosion, 
which of them are simultaneous, and the order in which they succeed each other have 
still to be determined. 
The solid products of explosion possess the composition and the properties of liver 
of sulphur prepared with an insufficient quantity of sulphur. W e can conceive that, 
at first, all the potassium of the saltpetre forms with carbon and oxygen potassic car¬ 
bonate, and that, in another stage, sulphur acts on the potassic carbonate and produces 
the mixture known as the solid powder residue. Or we may conceive that potassic 
sulphate is the first product, and that this is afterwards reduced by carbon to potassic 
disulphide and carbonate. Both conceptions would lead to the same results. 
The experiments of Karolyi/'' executed more than 17 years ago, contain the key 
to a chemical theory of gunpowder, and allow us to form an idea of the nature of the 
reactions, and the order in which they follow each other during the combustion of 
powder. He proposed to himself to decide by experiment whether or not the nature 
of the products and their relative quantities are dependent on the pressure which 
obtains during explosion. Craig! had asserted that under great pressure, such as 
would exist during the explosion in a piece of ordnance, much more potassic sulphide 
was formed than had been obtained by Bunsen and Schischkoff under ordinary 
atmospheric pressure. Karolyi took 36‘836 grms. of Austrian cannon powder, which 
had, according to his opinion, a composition similar to that of the powder employed 
by Bunsen and Schtschkoff, and enclosed the same in a small metallic cylinder, 
suspended in the centre of a 60-pounder hermetically closed shell. The air was then 
pumped out of the shell by means of an air pump, and the powder exploded by an 
electric current. As soon as the pressure of the 'gases in the cylinder had attained a 
certain magnitude the cylinder burst, and its contents were scattered about the space 
of the exhausted shell. 
The capacity of the shell and the amount of powder had been so adjusted that after 
explosion the gases in the shell should possess a tension of about 1*5 atmospheres; 
they were allowed to escape into tubes and sealed up for analysis. The solid products, 
which were removed from the shell by means of water, as well as the gases, were 
examined by the methods of Bunsen. 
A similar experiment was made with 34H53 grms. of rifle powder. 
Pogg. Arm., Bel. cxviii., p. 544. 
Silimais’s Am. J., [2], yol. xxxi., p. 429; Chem. News, vol. iv., p. 18. 
