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TRANSFORMATION OF CALOMEL. 
ART. XXVII.—ON THE TRANSFORMATION OF CALOMEL 
INTO CORROSIVE SUBLIMATE, UNDER THE INFLU- 
ENCE OF THE CHLORIDES OF THE ALKALIES. 
BY M.LEPAGE. 
M. J. Righini D'Ollegio, in a note relative to the ac- 
tion of steam on the protochloride of mercury, has given 
the result of some experiments which he undertook with 
the view of determining whether, as has been stated latterly, 
the protochloride of mercury is transformed into the per- 
chloride under the influence of the chlorides of the alkalies, 
at the temperature of the human body. 
The conclusions announced by this Italian Chemist have 
been entirely corroborated by the repeated observations 1 
have made on the same subject. The following are the 
results of my experiments: — 
1st. Protochloride of mercury, perfectly free from per- 
chloride, and mixed with an equal weight of hydrochlorate 
of ammonia, or of a chloride of an alkali, digested in dis- 
tilled water at a temperature of from 100° to 104° Fahr., 
during twenty-four, thirty-six, and even forty-eight hours, 
does not change color. The liquor, when filtered, has 
never indicated, by any reaction, the presence of even a 
trace of a mercurial salt. 
Pigeons that were made to drink this liquor during se- 
veral days in succession, suffered no injury. There ap- 
peared to be no diminution in the original weight of the 
calomel. 
2d. The same mixture, exposed to a temperature from 
120° to 140° Fahr., afforded a liquid which comported it- 
self with reagents, and in its action on the animal economy 
precisely the same as the last mentioned. 
