226 ON CHLORIDE OF SODA. 
By varying the conditions under which the oil is distilled, 
various modifications are obtained, which prove that a sub- 
stance with a definite composition may exist in several iso- 
meric states. — Ibid, from Comptes Rendus and Lancet. 
ART. LXV.— ON THE TRUE COMPOSITION OF LABARAQUE'S 
SOLUTION OF CHLORIDE OF SODA. 
By B. KavanagHj Esq. 
The solution of chloride of soda, or the liquor sodse chlo- 
rinate, of the London Pharmacopoeia, prepared by passing 
a stream of chlorine gas through a solution of carbonate of 
soda, is a preparation whose theoretical composition has 
hitherto been involved in doubt. 
MM. Millon and Balard have conceived, and put for- 
ward different hypotheses regarding it. The latter chemist 
considered it to be composed of bicarbonate of soda, hypo- 
chlorite of soda, and chloride of sodium. Thus: — suppose 
four atoms of carbonate of soda to be acted on by two atoms 
of chlorine. Two atoms of the carbonate of soda lose their 
carbonic acid, which uniting with the other two atoms of 
carbonate of soda produce two atoms of bicarbonate of soda. 
Then one of the remaining two atoms of soda loses its 
oxygen, and there remains sodium, with which one atom 
of the chlorine unites, to form chloride of sodium, whilst 
the disengaged oxygen unites with the other atom of chlo- 
rine to form hypochlorous acid, and this uniting with the 
remaining atom of soda forms hypochlorite of soda. This 
view of the subject, however elegant in conception, and 
strengthened by his discovery of the existence of hypo- 
chlorous acid (composed of one atom of chlorine and one 
