GAZEOUS OXID OF CARBON.

255

GAZEOUS

OXED OF CAKBON.

PART XXII.

Gazeous oxid of carbon was first described by Dr. Priestley,who mistook it for a hidro-carbonate.

With the true nature of it we have been only lately acquainted.It was first proved to be a peculiar gas, by Mr. Cruikshank ofWoolwich, who made it known to us, as such, in April 1801,through the medium of Nicholson’s Journal for that month. Se-veral additional properties of this gas were soon afterwards no-ticed by Desormes, Clement and others. Gazeous oxid of carbonforms an intermediate substance between the pure hidro-car-bonates and carbonic acid gas; but not being possessed of acidproperties Mr. Cruikshank has called it, conformable to the rulesof the chemical nomenclature, gazeous oxid of carlon, for it con-sists of oxigen and carbon rendered gazeous by caloric.

Though the gazeous oxid of carbon has some of the propertiespeculiar to the common hidro-carbonates, the following cha-racteristic properties sufficiently prove that none of those at pre-sent known are similar to it. We are therefore entitled toconsider it as a gas peculiar to itself.