ACTION OF POTASSIUM ON AMMONIA. 249 



* 



This idea is confirmed 'by the trials which I have made, 

 by heating the fusible substance with -potash containing 

 its water of crystallization, and muriate of lime partially 

 dried*. 



In both these cases, ammonia was generated with great 

 rapidity, and no other gas, but a minute quantity of in- 

 flammable gas, evolved, which was condensed by detona- 

 tion with oxigen with the same phenomena as pure hidro- 

 gen. 



In one instance, in which thirteen cubical inches of am- 

 monia had disappeared, Tobtained nearly eleven and three 

 quarters bv the agency of the water of the potash ; the 

 quantity of inflammable gas generated was less than four 

 tenths of a cubical inch. 



lu another, in which fourteen cubical inches had been 

 absorbed, 1 procured by the operation of the moisture of 

 muriate of lime nearly eleven cubical inches of volatile al- 

 kali, and half a cubical iuch of inflammable gas; and the 

 differences, there is every reason to believe, were owing to 

 an excess of water in the salts, by which some of the gas 

 was absorbed. 



Whenever, in experiments on the fusible substance, it The fusible 

 has been procured from ammonia saturated with moisture, sub5t ance does 

 I have always found that mere ammonia is generated from ammonia by 

 it by mere heat ; and the general tenour of the experiments neat alone, 

 inclines me to believe, that the small quantity, produced in 

 experiments performed in vacuo, is owing to the small quan- 

 tity of moisture furnished by the hidrogen gas introduced, 

 and that the fusible substance, heated out of the presence 

 of moisture, is incapable of producing volatile alkali. 



M. M. Gay Lussac and I henard, it is stated, after having Gay Lussac 

 obtained "three iifths of the ammonia or its elements that had and Thenar*), 

 disappeared in heir experiment, by heating the product; 



* If water, in irs common form, is brought into contact with the fusi* 

 bie sub tance, it is impossibl. to regula e the quantity, so as to gain con. 

 elusive results, and a very light excess of water causes the disappearance 

 of a very large quantity of the amm nia generated. In potash and 

 muriate of lim ;, in certain states of dryness, the water is too strongly 

 attracted by the saline matter to be given off, except for the purpose of 

 generating the ammonia. 



procured 



