AMALGAM PRODJCED FROM AMMONIA. $g 



potassium, and which had been wiped by bibulous paper, in 

 a dry plate-glass tube over mercury ; a considerable eleva- 

 tion of temperature was required before any gaseous mat- 

 ter was emitted, but the heat was raised till gas was rapidly 

 formed, and the whole of the amalgam expelled from the 

 tube : in cooling, the mercury rose very quickly in it, so 

 that a great part of the gaseous matter had been either mer- 

 cury, or water, in vapour, or something which the mercury 

 had absorbed in cooling. The small quantity, which was 

 permanent, did not equal one half the volume of the amal- 

 gam. 



On the idea that this gas might be a compound of hidro- The gas exa- 

 gen and nitrogen in the state of deoxigenation, I mixed a mined, 

 small quantity of oxigen gas with it, but no change of vo- 

 lume took place; I then exposed it to naphtha, when one 

 half of it was absorbed, which, by the effect the naphtha 

 produced upon turmeric, must have been ammonia ; the re- 

 maining gas analysed was found to consist of the oxigen 

 that had been introduced, and of hidrogen and nitrogen to 

 each other in the proportion of nearly four to one. 



At first I was perplexed by this result, which seemed to Here ammonia 

 prove the production of ammonia, independent of the pre- apparently 

 sence of any substance, which could furnish oxigen to it, out oxigen. 

 and to show that its amalgamation was merely owing to its 

 being freed from water, and combined with hidrogen : but 

 a satisfactory solution of the difficulty soon offered itself. 

 Exposing the triple amalgam procured from ammonia by The difficulty 

 potassium to a concentrated solution of ammonia, I found, solved - 

 that it had very little action upon it, and introducing the 

 amalgam moistened by it into a glass tube, it had nearly the 

 same permanency as the amalgam which had been wiped 

 before it was introduced, a little hidrogen only being evolved ; 

 but on heating the tube gaseous matter was rapidly gene- 

 rated, which proved to consist of two thirds ammonia, and 

 one third hidrogen. 



In the instance in which the amalgam had been wiped, a 

 small quantity of solution of ammonia, and perhaps of 

 potash, must have adhered to it; and though the amalgam 

 does not act upon this powerfully at common temperatures, 

 yet when the water is raised in vapour, it tends to oxigenate 



both 



