OXYGEN  IN  A  NASCENT  STATE. 
75 
filled  with  water.  The  sulphuric  acid  being  first  poured  in,  it 
is  sufficient  to  drop  into  it  the  earthy  superoxide  in  small  frag- 
ments, rapidly  closing  the  neck  of  the  globe  with  a  cork.  The 
disengagement  of  gas  is  not  long  delayed,  and  it  proceeds  the 
more  rapidly  the  more  the  mixture  becomes  heated.  In  certain 
cases  it  is  necessary  to  favor  the  reaction  by  plunging  the  globe 
into  a  water-bath  at  122°  to  140°  Fahr.,  as  in  other  cases  is 
indispensable  to  moderate  it  by  the  use  of  cold  water. 
Nascent  oxygen  is  a  colorless  gas,  possessing  a  strong  odor  ; 
it  should  be  respired  with  care,  as  introduced  into  the  system  too 
largely,  it  gives  rise  to  nausea,  which  may  be  succeeded  by 
vomiting.  Its  odor,  which  at  first  is  not  repulsive,  becomes  in- 
supportable when  it  has  been  smelt  many  times.  Its  taste  sug- 
gests a  little  that  of  lobster. 
Heated  to  about  167°  Fahr.,  or  exposed  to  solar  light,  it  loses 
all  its  active  properties.  In  the  presence  of  water,  and  at  the 
ordinary  temperature  of  the  air,  it  oxyclizes  most  of  the  metals, 
even  silver,  superoxydizes  in  general  the  metallic  protoxides, 
and  transforms  also  directly  arsenious,  into  arsenic  acid,  &c. 
The  alkalis  (potash,  soda,  lime,  baryta)  and  the  acids  (sulphuric, 
phosphoric,  nitric)  react  strongly  upon  it.  Even  ammonia,  in 
contact  with  nascent  oxygen,  undergoes  a  great  modification  ; 
its  elements  are  truly  burned,  the  result  of  the  combustion  being 
a  nitrous  compound.  In  fact,  it  is  only  necessary  to  pass  into  a 
bell  filled  with  the  odorous  gas,  a  rod  of  glass  wetted  with  a  so- 
lution of  ammonia,  when  the  vessel  is  instantly  filled  with  abun- 
dant vapors  of  nitrate  of  ammonia. 
Phosphoretted  hydrogen,  not  spontaneously  inflammable,  and 
which  we  know  is  unaltered  at  68Q  Fahr.  by  ordinary  oxygen, 
burns  on  the  contrary  with  the  emission  of  light  in  the  nascent 
gas. 
Lastly,  hydrochloric  acid  dissolved  in  water  cannot  resist  the 
energetic  affinity  of  active  oxygen  ;  its  elements  are  dissociated 
in  consequence  of  the  combustion  of  the  hydrogen,  and  the 
chlorine  set  free  will  dissolve  gold  leaf  placed  in  the  modified 
acid. 
Nascent  oxygen  is  thus  a  chloridizcr  in  the  sense  that  chlorine 
is  an  oxidizer,  and,  in  fact,  it  is  to  this  remarkable  power  of 
combustion  that  the  metallic  superoxides  owe  their  faculty  of 
