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SELECTED ARTICLES. 
made in the usual way; but it has never been demonstrated, 
that they exist there in sufficient quantity to account for the 
phenomena alluded to. 
Note. — The preceding paper was concluded, when wishing 
to convince my class that the production of chlorate of potassa, 
by the usual process, is entirely the result of the decomposi- 
tion of chloride of potassa, and owing to the insolubility of 
the chlorate, and not depending on the heat produced by the 
absorption of chlorine, as Morin* conceives, I passed chlo- 
rine through a boiling solution of one part of potassa in four 
parts of water. The gas was absorbed in as great quantity as 
if the solution had been cold, giving a bleaching liquid of 
great power, and no deposit of chlorate. The saturated solu- 
tion was allowed to cool; after a certain time, a large quantity 
of chlorate fell, and the solution lost its bleaching power to 
such a degree, that a slip of reddened litmus paper could be 
immersed in it several minutes before it lost its colour, while 
a similar strip was instantly bleached when dipped into the 
hot solution ; a proof that the chloride of potassa existing in 
the boiling liquid disappeared as it cooled, producing the 
chlorate, which was quite as abundant as when obtained in 
the usual way. 
This experiment furnishes a strong argument against the 
theory of Balard. For, as already stated, the hypochlorites 
are easily decomposed by slight elevations of temperature; it 
is therefore impossible to admit their existence in the boiling 
liquid obtained as above; yet it possessed all the properties of 
chloride of potassa, showing that the two are distinct com- 
pounds. The solutions of chloride of potassa or soda, obtained 
by double decomposition from chloride of lime, may be kept 
in ebullition a long time without losing their bleaching power, 
and are only decomposed when, by evaporation, they have 
become so concentrated as to be unable to hold the resulting 
chlorate in solution. 
* Ann. de Chi. et de Phys. vol. 37, p. 146. 
