Page:Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Vol 1.djvu/94

Rh Fifth species. Hyperoxygenized muriate of lime. The sixth species of hyperoxygenized muriate of ammonia canpot be formed by direct combination. By pouring a solution of car- bonate of ammonia into a solution of any of the earthy hyperoxyge- nized muriates, the earth is precipitated with the carbonic acid, and hyperoxygenized muriate of ammonia remains in the liquor. This salt is decomposed at a low temperature, and has all the characters of the genus to which it belongs. It is a very striking example of the force of co-operating aﬁinities which can unite this acid with ammo- nia; while oxygenized muriatic acid decomposes that alkali. It is also a proof of the different attractions exercised by these two acids toward the saliﬁable bases.

Hyperoxygenized muriate of magnesia is the seventh species. Its proportions are, The author has not determined the proportions of the eighth species, viz. hyperoxygenized muriate of alumina, because this salt was always decomposed by phosphate of silver ; and he imagines that hyperoxygenized muriate of silica does, not exist.

He then states some corrections which he has made in the propor— tions of common muriates, respecting the quantity of water they con- tain. This he esteems to have been rated too high by the chemists who have examined them. He exposed a given weight of muriate of potash to a red heat, and examined it to know if any of the acid had been expelled. Some portion had been volatilized, and upon this correction he established the proportions he has announced in this paper.

He then passes to the metallic salts of this genus, a number of which he has formed by passing a current of oxygenized muriatic acid through water, in which the oxide was suspended. Copper, iron, lead, and silver, he readily combined with the acid. The last of these salts he considers with greater attention for two reasons : ﬁrst, because it affords a very striking difference between the hyperoxygenized and common muriatic acids; and, secondly, on account of its extraordinary properties. This salt is soluble in three parts of water, crystallizes by cooling, is not affected by light, but is decomposed by all the weak acids, even vinegar. Rubbed in a mortar with about three-fourths of sulphur, it detonates by a very gentle pressure, and with so much violence that Mr. Chenevix estimates the expansive force at nearly ten times that of a mixture of sulphur and hyperoxygenized muriate of potash.