Note 150 — RESEARCH I. (continued 3)

Lavoisier has said concerning aqua regia, “In solutions of metals in this acid, as in all other acids, the metals are first oxydated, by attracting a part of the oxygene from the compound radical. This occasions the disengagement of a particular species of gas not hitherto described, which may be called nitro-muriatic gas. It has a very disagreeable smell, and is fatal to animal life when respired; it attacks iron, and causes it to rust; it is absorbed in considerable quantities by water.” Elem. Eng. 237.