
MISCELLANY. 
79 
The sulphur obtained in this manner formed an opake spongy mass 
of a pure yellow colour. After freeing it by washing from the acid 
liquid it contained, although obtained in the cold, it exhibited all the 
elastic properties presented by soft sulphur obtained with the assist- 
ance of heat and immersion in cold water. Nevertheless, in the cir- 
cumstances under which the experiments were made, the temperature 
never rose above 68°-77° ; the chemical reaction sufficed therefore to 
produce a phenomenon which under ordinary circumstances requires 
an elevation of temperature of about 482°. This sulphur was kept 
for eight days in water; it was still somewhat elastic, and its colour 
had but slightly decreased. 
The gases which are disengaged in the preceding operation vary 
according to the period when they are collected. At the commence- 
ment, and for about three hours, they consist of a mixture of deutoxide 
of nitrogen and of hyponitric acid : the latter gradually disappears, 
and is replaced by sulphuretted hydrogen. It will presently be seen 
that the presence of one of these two gases in a mixture indicates the 
absence of the other; in a word, these two gases are incompatible. 
The mixture of deutoxide of nitrogen and of sulphuretted hydrogen 
which is disengaged during the remainder of the operation, exhibits a 
very remarkable phenomenon ; it is partly decomposed in passing 
through water, which is rendered milky by the eliminated sulphur; 
but the bubbles which burst at the surface form, when the air is un- 
disturbed, very regular rings, analogous to those presented by phos- 
phuretted hydrogen when it ignites spontaneously on its issue from 
water. This phenomenon is readily explained by the action of hypo- 
nitric acid upon sulphuretted hydrogen; these two gases being incom- 
patible, and each bubble being a mixture of sulphuretted hydrogen 
and deutoxide of nitrogen, the air acting upon the latter by its oxygen 
converts it into hyponitric acid, which in its turn decomposes the sul- 
phuretted hydrogen ; and as this action is only exerted upon the cen- 
tral and peripheral parts which are in contact with the air, the rings 
above mentioned are formed. 
The following experiments prove decidedly that hyponitric and hy- 
posulphuric acids are not compatible. If a bell-glass containing a 
mixture of deutoxide of nitrogen and sulphuretted hydrogen is obser- 
ved, the gases are not decomposed im.mediately ; but on introducing 
merely a few bubbles of oxygen, the gases are coloured, sulphur is 
deposited upon the sides of the vessel, and the colour disappears; a 
further addition of oxygen reproduces the same phenomena, which 
can be repeated until the sulphuretted hydrogen has entirely disap- 
peared. This curious reaction of the deutoxide of nitrogen promises 
