METHOD OF OBTAINING MUBIATIC ACID.

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any known combustible body. It disengages the carbonic, phos-phoric, and sulphureous acids from all their combinations, but itis constantly expelled by the action of the sulphuric acid.

METHOD OF OBTAINING MURIATIC ACID.

Muriatic acid is best obtained by decomposing muriate of sodaor common salt, by means of sulphuric acid, in the followingmanner:

Put into a tubulated retort, lodged in a sand-heat, or sup-ported over a lamp, and connected with Pepys’s distillatory vessel,or Woulf’s bottles, every one containing a small quantity of dis-tilled water; three parts of muriate of soda, and pour on it oneof sulphuric acid very gradually, or rather let it be suffered todrop into the retort, by means of a- funnel fastened to its tubu-lure, and whose inner opening may at pleasure be closed,wholly, or in part, by means of a ground-glass rod. Muriaticacid gas will be plentifully disengaged, whi.ch passes throughthe neck of the retort, and becomes absorbed by the water.When the w;iter in the first bottle is fully saturated it absorbsno more and becomes cold, but the gas continues to pass intothe next bottles, and heats the water they contain. The waterthus impregnated with muriatic acid gas is called muriatic acid.

Remark. ..If sulphuric acid diluted with an equal quantity, byweight, of water, be made use of in this process, the apparatusof Pepys or Woulf may be dispensed with, and a common re-ceiver may be used with safety.

The salts formed by the combination of muriatic acid, withdifferent bases, are called muriates.