54 



AMALGAM PRODUCED PROM AMMONIA. 



of uric acid, but the phosphates were deposited more rapidly 



than before. v 



Alkalis do not A gentleman, in whose urine the uric acid appears in a 



always coun- .. , r . ,. Il 



teract the sond iorm immediately alter it is voided, has the same ap^ 



formation of pearance in the urine, even when nine drachms of soda dis- 

 solved in water impregnated with carbonic acid are taken 

 in twenty-four hours; so that in this instance the alkali does 

 not even counteract the formation of uric acid. 



of ammonia. 



IX. 



Electro-Chemical Researches on the Decomposition of the 

 Earths; with Observations on the Metals obtained from 

 the alkaline Earths, and on the Amalgam procured from 

 Ammonia. By Humphry Davy, Esq. Sec. K. S. M. R. 

 LA. 



{"Concluded from Vol. XXI, p. 3S3.J 



V. On the production of an Amalgam from Ammonia, and 

 on its Nature and Properties. 



Deoxidation Jl N the communication from Professor Berzelius and Dr. 

 SonoTtlK?" 111 " P° ntm > which I have already referred to, a most curious 

 compound base and important experiment on the deoxidation and amalga- 

 mation of the compound basis of ammonia is mentioned, 

 which these ingenious gentlemen regard as a strict proof of 

 the idea I had formed of its being an oxide with a binary 

 basis. 



Mercury, negatively electrified in the Voltaic circuit, is 

 placed in contact with solution of ammonia. Under this 

 agency it gradually increases in volume, and, when ex- 

 panded to four or five times its former dimensions, becomes 

 a soft solid. 



And that this substance is composed of the deoxigenated 

 compound basis of ammonia and mercury, they think is 

 proved; 1. By the reproduction of quicksilver and ammo- 

 nia, with the absorption of oxigen, when it is exposed to air; 

 and secondly, by its forming ammonia in water, while hi- 

 drogen is evolved, and the quicksilver gradually becomes 

 free. 



An 



