ACTION OF SOLUTIONS OF CHLORIDES AND AIR ON MERCURY.
Reading edition
We have given in previous Numbers the results of M. Mialhe's experiments on the action of chlorides on some mercurial compounds, and he states that he had nearly concluded his experiments when it occurred to him to try whether mercury itself would not be acted upon by this class of substances.
Experiment, he states, confirmed his suspicions, for he found that the solutions of the alkaline chlorides put into contact with mercury and atmospheric air always produced bichloride of mercury, the quantity of which was greater in proportion to the concentration of the solution of the chloride, and the more perfect state of division of the metal, but no effect is produced unless oxygen, that of the air being sufficient, is present.
1st Experiment.—Mercury treated with the solution of alkaline chlorides (described in our last Number as the assay liquor ), gave by stove heat 0·4 part of sublimate.
2nd Experiment.—The above repeated with the mercury finely divided by mucilage, yielded 0·7 part of sublimate.
The researches already detailed sufficiently prove, in the opinion of M. Mialhe, that the decomposing power of the alkaline chlorides is great, but they do not teach us anything as to their relative energy. The following experiments will supply this deficiency.
Hydrochlorate of Ammonia.—One hundred and twenty parts of hydrochlorate of ammonia and 30 parts of calomel were placed in an open bottle containg 1000 parts of distilled water, the temperature of which was gradually raised to 122° Fahr., and kept for half an hour; the sublimate produced amounted to 0·9 of a part.
The experiment repeated with the following salts gave the annexed quantities of sublimate:—
Chloride of Sodium, 0·4 of a part.
Chloride of Barium, 0·4 "
Chloride of Potassium, 0·3 "
It results from these experiments that the hydrochlorate of ammonia is the most powerful of these four salts.
In concluding his experiments, M. Mialhe remarks that the reactions which he has pointed out take place at common temperatures, but better at the temperature of the human body. All of them are produced in a short time, and some occur instantaneously, the greater part requiring only a few hours' contact for action. As then the different fluids contained in the human body contain oxygen, chloride of sodium, and hydrochlorate of ammonia, accompanied or not with hydrochloric and other acids which may facilitate their action, it follows that all the chemical phenomena produced under the circumstances described, occur in the human body when any mercurial preparation whatever is introduced into it; these always produce a certain quantity of corrosive sublimate in which their medicinal properties reside; and this fact explains, in the opinion of M. Mialhe, the hitherto unexplained physiological action and therapeutic properties of metallic mercury when introduced into the animal economy.—Ann. de Chim. et de Phys., Juin 1842.
