VI. On two new compounds of chlorine and carbon, and on a new compound of iodine, carbon, and hydrogen

One of the first circumstances that induced Sir H. Davy to doubt the compound nature of what was formerly called oxymuriatic acid gas, was the want of action of heated char­-coal upon it; and considerable use of the same agent, and of the phenomena exhibited by it in different circumstances with chlorine, was afterwards made in establishing the simple nature of that body. The true nature of chlorine being ascertained, it became of importance to form all the possible compounds of it with other elementary substances, and to examine them in the new view had of their nature. This investigation has been pursued with such success at different times, that very few elements remain uncombined with it; but with respect to carbon, the very circumstance which first tended to correct the erroneous opinions which, after Scheele's time, and before the year 1810, had gone abroad respecting its nature, proved an obstacle to the formation of its compounds; and up to the present time, the chlorides of carbon have escaped the re­-searches of chemists.