hydrogen; and the late Mr. BERTHOLLET, jun.* who resumed the subject, with much apparent accuracy, was induced, from his experiments, to adopt the last mentioned opinion, that the alcohol of sulphur was a compound of sulphur and hydrogen, and that no carbon entered into its formation. Sir HUMPHRY DAVY, in the course of his brilliant career of chemical discovery, has repeatedly noticed this singular substance; but it does not appear that he ever examined it minutely, and if he gave the preference to the opinion of the younger Mr. BERTHOLLET, respecting its chemical nature, it was principally from the circumstance of its having apparently yielded sulphuretted hydrogen by the agency of the Voltaic electricity, and sulphureous and sulphuric acid by combustion in oxygen. These varieties of opinions, amongst such respectable authorities, having left on our minds much doubt and uncertainty with regard to the real nature of this compound, we undertook to examine it conjointly; in hopes that we might succeed in ascertaining its composition with a greater degree of certainty than our predecessors had done, and perhaps also in discovering the exact proportions of the elements of which it is composed, a circumstance which, in the present state of chemical science, would add considerable interest to an enquiry of this kind. * Mémoires d'Arcueil, Vol. I.; and Annales de Chimie, Vol. LXI. p. 127. ↑ Phil. Trans. 1809, page 464; and Elements of Chemical Philosophy, page 283 and 310. This enquiry was undertaken in London, in the months of July, August, and September, during Mr. BERZELIUS's stay in this country; and the leading points of the analysis were then ascertained, and mentioned to our chemical friends. Some parts of the work, however, and in particular the precise determination of proportions, remained to be completed; and this has been accomplished by Professor BERZELIUS * Whilst we were finishing this paper, and arranging our materials, in order to present them to the Royal Society, the Annales de Chimie, for the month of September last, reached this country, by which it appears that the alcohol of sulphur has recently been again submitted to examination in France, by Mr. CLUZEL, who supposed it to be a compound of sulphur, carbon, hydrogen, and azote. But Messrs. BERTHOLLET, THENARD, and VAUQUELIN, the reporters of these experiments, have repeated them, and by a process of their own, quite different from the methods which we have employed, these celebrated chemists have revived the opinion of CLEMENT and DESORMES, that the alcohol of sulphur is a compound of sulphur and carbon, in the proportion of about eighty-five parts of the former to fifteen parts of the latter, no hydrogen entering into its composition. How near this conclusion agrees with our own, will be seen in the following pages. Although some of the experiments on this substance which we are going to relate, have already been performed by others, yet as we have, in several instances, obtained different results, and as any considerable omission would interrupt the thread of our narrative, we shall beg leave to lay before the Society a complete, though concise, account of our analysis. We shall, for the sake of arrangement, class the particulars of our enquiry under four heads: viz. 1. Preparation and general since his return to Stockholm. There are also some important collateral objects, which are almost entirely his own, and which, together with his remarks on determinate proportions, have been added to the paper in the form of an appendix. (Note of Dr. MARCET.) * It appears that Mr. CLUZEL considered the sulphur in this oil, as being in a deoxydated state, an idea which had some years ago occurred to one of us, and also to Sir H. DAVY. See Phil. Trans. for 1809, p. 465. properties of the Alcohol of Sulphur. 2. Experiments to ascertain whether Hydrogen be present in the Alcohol of Sulphur. 3. Experiments to ascertain the presence of Carbon. 4. Experiments to ascertain the proportions of the elements of the Alcohol of Sulphur. And the Appendix will contain various elucidations and collateral objects. § 1. Preparation and general Properties of the Alcohol of Sulphur. We prepared this substance according to the method pointed out by CLEMENT and DESORMES, that is, by slowly volatilizing sulphur through red hot charcoal in a porcelain tube, and condensing in water the oily liquid which is thus formed. The details of the process have so often been described elsewhere, that it would be superfluous to repeat them here. The fluid thus procured is of a pale yellow colour; being extremely volatile, it produces a remarkable degree of cold during its evaporation, and deposits in a crystalline form, some sulphur which it held in solution. The quantity of sulphur thus dissolved in the oily liquor, varies according to the circumstances of the process by which it is obtained;* and its specific gravity, before it has been rectified, must, of course, be liable to corresponding variations.† In order to obtain the alcohol of sulphur perfectly pure, it is only necessary to distill it at a very gentle heat, not exceeding 100° or 110°; and some dry muriate of lime may be put into the retort, in order to obtain the liquor perfectly free from moisture. The fluid which comes over is quite pure, and some sulphur remains in the retort. * The alcohol of sulphur can dissolve as much as of its weight of sulphur. + We ascertained the specific gravity of only one specimen of the impure oily liquor, which proved to be 1,331. The alcohol of sulphur thus prepared has the following properties: it is eminently transparent, and perfectly colourless. Sometimes, immediately after distillation, the oily liquidappears somewhat opaque and milky; but the next day the liquor is found perfectly clear, the milky appearance having spontaneously disappeared. It has an acrid, pungent, and somewhat aromatic taste; its smell is nauseous and fetid, though distinctly differing from that of sulphuretted hydrogen. Its specific weight is 1,272; its refractive power, as ascertained by Dr. WOLLASTON, is 1,645. Its expansive force (the height of the barometer being thirty inches, and the temperature 58,5° FAHRENHEIT) is equal to the pressure of 7,36 inches of mercury; so that air, to which it is admitted, will dilate about onefourth of its volume. It boils briskly under the common atmospheric pressure at a temperature between 105° and 110°.* It does not congeal at a temperature as low as 60° below zero of Fahrenheit's scale. It is highly inflammable, and takes fire at a temperature scarcely exceeding that at which mercury boils; it burns with a bluish flame, emitting copious fumes of sulphureous acid. If a long glass tube, open at both ends, be held over the flame, care being taken to keep the tube quite cold, no moisture whatever is deposited on its internal surface. This oily liquid readily dissolves in alcohol and ether,† though not in all proportions; and if it contain sulphur in solution, the * The volatility of this liquid is very remarkable; it exceeds considerably that of ether; and in some experiments, tried since this paper was presented to the Society, on its power of producing cold by evaporation, some unexpected results have been obtained, which may, perhaps, become the subject of some future communication. + Ether can dissolve about three times its own bulk of the oily liquor before any separation or turbidness takes place. latter is rapidly precipitated in spicular crystals. The spirituous solution is rendered turbid, and the oily liquor precipitated by the addition of water. The alcohol of sulphur is not soluble in water, though it imparts to it some of its odour; this appears to be owing to its impregnating the atmospheric air contained in the water, rather than the water itself. It readily mixes, and perfectly incorporates with either the fixed or volatile oils; but if it hold sulphur in solution, the latter separates in a crystalline form. It dissolves camphor very rapidly, and forms with it perfectly transparent solutions. When kept for some time under water, the latter being in contact with atmospheric air, neither the air, nor the oily liquid, suffer any alteration. On being heated in contact with potassium, the alcohol of sulphur suffers no change or decomposition, when in its liquid state; but if it be brought to the state of vapour, by the exclusion of the air, and heat applied, the potassium becomes ignited in the vapour, and emits a reddish flame. During this species of combustion, a blackish film appears upon the potassium, (as happens when potassium is burnt in carbonic acid gas), and on introducing water, a greenish solution is obtained, which contains a quantity of carbonaceous matter, and has the smell and other properties of hepar sulphuris. Neither mercury nor amalgams of silver, or of lead, are at all acted upon by this liquor, if it has been carefully distilled; but if it contain any sulphur in solution, the amalgam blackens, and sulphurets of silver, or of lead, are produced, after which the liquor remains pure, and unsusceptible of further alteration. Mercury heated to ebullition in an atmosphere of this oil, comes over unaltered, and without the liquor undergoing any change. The alkalis dissolve it entirely, though but very slowly. None of the |