A FF
AFF
( 17 )
Bucholz acidified 100 parts of fused sulphurwith nitro-muriatic acid, and by combining withbarytes the sulphuric acid thus produced ob-tained 724 parts of sulphat of barytes. If thissulphat is estimated according to Berzelius ’ re-sult above given, its acid part will be 246.16,whence 100 parts of sulphur will have combinedwith 146.16 of oxygen, and this estimation ofsulphuric acid will be found to correspond al-most exactly with that already given as foundby the acidification of sulphuret of lead.
Sulphureous Acid. The production of thisacid by the direct combustion of sulphur beingattended with nearly insuperable difficulties,Pr. Berzelius attempted its analysis by meansof the sulphite of ammonia. This salt wasdecomposed by muriat of barytes, and the re-sulting sulphite of barytes was changed to thesulphat of barytes, by means of nitric acid,none of the sulphureous acid being expelled inthe process. By these and other experimentsthe author determines the elements of sulphu-reous acid to be
Sulphur 50.57 — 100.00Oxygen 49.43 — 97.83
100.00 197.83
The oxygen in the sulphureous acid is there-fore to that in the sulphuric acid very nearlyas 1:1§; as 100 parts of sulphur unite with97.83 of oxygen in the sulphureous, and with146.426 in the sulphuric, and 79.S3 X 1| =146.785.
Copper with Sulphur and Oxygen.
The author proceeds to examine the com-
pounds of copper with sulphur and oxygen, toascertain whether they agree with those of leadin the three laws of combination which he hadlaid down. These laws (to repeat them) arethe following:
1. That the sulphuret of any metal, whenoxydated, is totally changed to a neutral sulphat.
2. That in every sulphat the oxygen belong-ing to the base equals half the weight of thesulphur in the acid.
3. That in every compound of an acid and abase, the oxygen of the acid equals that of thebase multiplied by some integral number. Tothis may be added the other law of all chemicalcombination (which is entirely adopted by theauthor) namely,
4. That where two bodies unite in differentproportions, if the quantity of one of them beassumed as a fixed number, the proportions ofthe other body are in the simplest ratio to eachother, being produced by multiplying the low-est proportion by some integral number.
Copper and Sulphur. One hundred partsof copper heated in a retort with as much sul-phur, till all the excess of the hitter was ex-pelled, produced 125.6 of sulphuret of copper.Some difficulties attend this operation to pro-duce uniform results, but the above numberappears to approach the nearest to accuracy.Hence from this single fact, the following com-position of the suboxyd and sulphated suboxydof copper should be made out, assuming thatthe oxyd of copper corresponding with this sul-phuret is at a minimum of oxydation.
Copper 100.0 with 12.800 oxygen give 112.800 suboxyd of copperSulphur 25.6 37.485 63.085 sulphuric acid
This therefore would give for the compo-sition of the suboxyd of copper,
Copper 100.0 — 88.652Oxygen 12.8 «— 11.348
112.8 100.000
And the sulphated suboxyd of copper wouldconsist of 63.085 acid to 112.8 of suboxyd : oras follows: (the oxygen of the base equallinghalf the sulphur in the acid).
Sulphuric acid 100.0 — 35.87Suboxyd of copper 178.8 — 64.13
278.8 100.00
175.885 Sulphated Suboxyd of Copper
Now, supposing the Peroxyd of copper tocontain twice the quantity of oxygen to a givenweight of metal, as the suboxyd, this peroxydof copper would consist of
Copper 100.0 — 79.618Oxygen 25.6 .— 20.382
125.6 100.000
Then if this peroxyd were the base of a neu-tral sulphat of copper, this sulphated peroxydwould contain
Sulphuric acid 100.000 — 50.113Peroxyd of Copper 99.548 —— 49.887
199.548
VOL. HI.
c
100.000