Page:Experimental researches in chemistry and.djvu/54

1820.] as it cools, and the cold solution also gives crystals by spontaneous evaporation. When poured into water, the chloride is precipitated, and falls to the bottom in flakes. If burnt, the flame of the alcohol is brightened by the presence of the. substance, and fumes of muriatic acid are liberated. Solution of nitrate of silver does not produce any turbidness in it, unless it be in such quantity that the water throws down the substance; but no chloride of silver is formed. .

It is much more soluble in ether than in alcohol, and more. so in hot than in cold æther. The hot solution deposits crystals as it cools; and the crystallization of a cold solution, when evaporated on a glass plate, is very beautiful. This solution is not precipitated by water, unless the æther has previously been dried, and then water occasions a turbidness. Nitrate of silver does not precipitate it. When burned, muriatic acid fumes are liberated, but the greater part of the chloride remains in the capsule.

It is soluble in the volatile oils, and on evaporation is again obtained in crystals. It is also readily soluble in fixed oils.-The solutions when heated liberate muriatic acid gas, and the oil becomes of a dark colour, as if charred.

Solutions of the acids and alkalies do not act with any energy. on the substance. When boiled with solutions of pure potasln and soda, it rises and condenses in the upper part of the ves-. sel; and though it be brought down to the alkali many times and reboiled, still the alkali, when examined, is not found to contain any chlorine, nor is any change produced. Ammonia in solution is also without action upon it. These solutions do not appear to dissolve more of it than pure water.

Muriatic acid in solution does not act at all upon it. Strong nitric acid boiled upon it dissolves a portion, but does not decompose it: as it cools, part of the chloride is deposited unaltered, and the concentrated acid, when diluted, lets more fall down. The diluted portion being filtered, and tested with nitrate of silver, gives no precipitate. It does not appear to be either soluble in, or acted upon by, concentrated sulphuric acid. It sinks slowly in the acid, and, when heated, is converted into vapour, which, rising through the acid, condenses in the upper part of the tube.

It is not acted upon by oxygen at temperatures under a red