58 



The amalgam 

 quickly de- 

 composed. 



Distilled. 



Tlie triple 

 amalgams 



may be pre- 

 served some 

 time. 



Heated oyer 

 mercury. 



AMALGAM PRODUCED FROM AMMONIA. 



sod to supply oxigen to this scarcely ttjVjj- part of a grain of 

 water would be required, which is a quantity hardly appre- 

 ciable, and which merely breathing upon the amalgam 

 would be almost sufficient to communicate. 



Hence, when an amalgam, which had been wiped by 

 means of bibulous paper, was introduced into naphtha, it 

 decomposed almost as rapidly as in the air, producingammo- 

 nia and hidrogen. 



In oils it evolved hidrogen, and generated ammoniacal 

 soap ; and when it was introduced into a glass tube, closed 

 by a cork, gas was rapidly formed, and the mercury re- 

 mained free; and this gas, when examined, was found to 

 consist of from about two thirds to three fourths ammonia, 

 and the remainder hidrogen*. 



That more moisture sometimes existed attached to the 

 amalgam, when wiped as dry as possible by bibulous paper, 

 than was sufficient for the effect of decomposition, I soon 

 found by an experiment of distillation. 



About a quarter of a cubic inch of an amalgam nearly- 

 solid was wiped very dry, and introduced into a small tube : 

 in this tube it was heated till the gaseous matter had expel- 

 led the quicksilver ; the tube was then closed, and suffered 

 to cool, when moisture, which proved to be a saturated so- 

 lution of ammonia, had precipitated upon it. 



I have mentioned, that the amalgams obtained from am- 

 monia by means of the metals of the fixed alkalis or alka- 

 line earths seemed to contain much more ammoniacal basis 

 in combination than those procured by electricity: and 

 when they are combined with the metals of the fixed alkalis 

 or of the earths in any considerable quantities, they are 

 much more permanent. 



Triple compounds of this kind, when carefully wiped, 

 scarcely produce any ammonia under naphtha, or oil, and 

 may be preserved for a considerable time in closed glass 

 tubes, a little hidrogen being the only product evolved from 

 them. 



I heated a triple amalgam obtained from ammonia by 



* In the experiment of the action of the amalgam upon air, the oxi- 

 gen is probably absorbed by nascent hidrogen, and reproduces water, 

 which is dissolved by the ammonia. 



potassium 



