3. When a mixture of dry carbonic oxide and hydrogen is exploded with a quantity of oxygen insufficient for complete combustion, the ratio of the carbonic acid to the steam formed depends upon the shape of the vessel and the pressure under which the gases are fired. By continually increasing the initial pressure, a point is reached where no further increase in the pressure affects the products of the reaction. At and above this critical pressure the result was found to be independent of the length of the column of gases exploded. The larger the quantity of oxygen used, the lower the "critical pressure" was found to be.
4. When dry mixtures of carbonic oxide and hydrogen in varying proportions are exploded above their critical pressures with oxygen insufficient for complete combustion, an equilibrium is established between two opposite chemical changes represented by the equations:
(I.) CO + H2O = CO2 + H2.
(II.) CO2 + H2 = CO + H2O.
At the end of the reaction the product of the carbonic oxide and steam molecules is equal to the product of the carbonic acid and hydrogen molecules multiplied by a coefficient of affinity. This result agrees with Horstmann's conclusion. But Hortsmann considers that the coefficient varies with the relative mass of oxygen taken.
5. A small difference in the initial temperature at which the gases are fired makes a considerable difference in the products of the reaction. This difference is due to the condensation of steam by the sides of the vessel during the explosion, and its consequent removal from the sphere of action during the chemical change. When the gases are exploded at an initial temperature sufficiently high to prevent any condensation of steam during the progress of the reaction, the coefficient of affinity is found to be constant whatever the quantity of oxygen used—provided only the quantity of hydrogen is more than double the quantity of oxygen.
6. The presence of an inert gas, such as nitrogen, by diminishing the intensity of the reaction, favors the formation of carbonic acid in preference to steam. When the hydrogen taken is less than double the oxygen, the excess of oxygen cannot react with any of the three other gases present—carbonic oxide, carbonic acid, and steam—but has to wait until an equal volume of steam is reduced to hydrogen by the carbonic oxide. The excess of inert oxygen has the same effect as inert nitrogen in favoring the formation of carbonic acid. The variations in the coefficient of affinity found by Hortsmann with different quantities of oxygen are due partly to this cause, but chiefly to the varying amounts of steam condensed by the cold eudiometer during the reaction taking place in different experiments.
7. As a general result of these experiments it is shown that, when a mixture of dry carbonic oxide and hydrogen is exploded with oxygen insufficient for complete combustion, at a temperature at which no condensation of steam can take place during the reaction, and at a temperature greater than the critical pressure, an equilibrium between two opposite chemical changes is established, which is independent of the mass of oxygen taken, so long as this quantity is less than half the hydrogen. Within these limits the law of mass is completely verified for the gaseous system composed of carbonic oxide, carbonic acid, hydrogen, and steam at a high temperature.
HERBST'S METHOD OF FILLING.
Demonstrated by Dr. G. C. Cludius, Grenoble, France.[12]
At the July meeting of the Odontological Society of France, Dr. Cludius, from Grenoble, made the following demonstration of a new method of gold filling, saying: