242 ACTION OF POTASSIUM ON AMMONIA. 



Their sub- The objects which have principally occupied my atten- 



jects. ti on are the elementary matter of ammonia, the nature of 



phosphorus, sulphur, charcoal, and the diamond, and the 

 constituents of the boracic, fluoric, and muriatic acids. 



Among the numerous processes of decomposition, which 

 I have attempted, many have been successful; and from 

 those which have failed some new phenomena have usually 

 resulted, which may possibly serve as guides in future in- 

 quiries. On this account, I hall keep back no part of the 

 investigation, and I shall trust to the candour of the Society 

 for an excuse for its imperfection. 



The more approaches are made in chemical inquiries to- 

 wards the refined analysis of bodies, the greater are the ob- 

 stacles which present themselves, and the less perfect the 

 results., 

 Pure sub- All the difficulties, which occur in analysing a body, are 



ob a talned eld ° m direct P roof * of tne energy of attraction of its constituent 

 parts. In the play of affinities with respect to secondary 

 compounds even, it rarely occurs, that any perfectly pure or 

 unmixed substance is obtained; and^the principle applies 

 still more strongly to primary combinations. 

 First methods The first methods of experimenting on new objects like- 

 imperfect. w j se are necessar ily imperfect ; novel instruments are de- 

 manded, the use of which is only gradually acquired, and a 

 number of experiments of the same kind must be made, be- 

 fore one is obtained, from which correct data for conclusions 

 can be drawn. 



2. Experiments on the Action of Potassium on -Ammonia, arid 

 Observations on the Nature ofthcfe two Bodies. 



Oxig-n in am* In the Bakerian lecture, which I had the honour of read- 

 ing before the Society, November 1Q, 1807, I mentioned, 

 that in heating potassium strongly in ammonia, I found that 

 there was a considerable it. crease of volume of the gas, 

 that hidrogen and nitrogen were produced, and that the 

 potassium appeared to be oxidated; but this experiment, 

 as I had not been able to examine the residuum with accu- 

 racy, I did not publish. I stated it as an evidence, which I 

 intended'to pursue more fully, of the existence of oxigen in 

 ammonia. 



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