24& 



ACTION OF POTASSIUM ON AMMONIA. 



Simi ar results 

 in differ a 



experiments. 



Difference be- 

 tween 'he ion 

 tube and green 

 glass retort. 



Effects of 

 moisture. 



With a proper 

 quantity of 



moisture, the 

 original' quart 

 tity of ammo- 

 nia would be 

 regenerated. 



In various'experiments on different quantities of the fusi- 

 ble substance, in some of whic'; the heat was applied to the 

 t ay in the green glass retort, and in others, after it had 

 been introduced into the iron tube ; and in which the 

 temperature was sometimes raised slowly and sometimes 

 quickly, the comparative results were so near these, that 

 I have detailed, as to render any statement of them super- 

 fluous. 



A little move ammouia, and rather a larger proportion of 

 inflammable gas*, were in all instances evolved when the 

 iron tube was used, which I am inclined to attribute to the 

 following circumstances. When the tray was brought 

 througn the atmosphere to be introduced into the iron tube, 

 the fusible substance absorbed a small quantity of mois- 

 ture from the air, which is connected with the production 

 of ammonia. And in the process of heating in the retort, 

 the green glass was blackened, and I found that it contain- 

 ed a very small quantity of the oxides of lead and iron, 

 which must have caused* the disappearance of a small quan- 

 tity of hidrogen. 



M. M. Gay Lussac and Thenard, it appears from the 

 statement, had brought the fusible substance into contact 

 with mercury, which must have given to it some moisture : 

 and whenever this is the case, it furnishes by hnat variable 

 quantities of ammonia. In one instance, in which I heated 

 the fusible substance from nine grains of potassium, in a 

 retort that had been filled with mercury in its common state 

 of dryness, I obtained seven cubical inches of ammonia as 

 the first product ; and in another experiment which had 

 been made with eight grains, and in which moisture was 

 purposely introduced, I obtained nearly nine cubical inches 

 of ammonia, and only four of tie mixed gasses. 



I am inclined to believe, that if moisture could be intro- 

 duced only in the proper proportion, the quantity of am- 

 monia generated would be exactly equal to that which dis- 

 appeared in the first process. 



* The average of six experiments made in a tube of iron is 2'4-of in- 

 flammable gas to 1 of uninflammable. The average of three made in 

 jreeo gtass retorts is 2'3 to 1. 



This 



