<^g4 ^^ S&Sm eHEMtCAL AGENCIES OF SLCCTRICtTf* 



Changes pro- stroncrly reddened. Paper coloured by turmeric introduced 



ttid^^ in >vater *"^^* *^^® ^^^^^ *"^^ ^*^ ^** colour much deepened; the acid 

 matter garc a very slight degree of turbidness to solution of 

 nitrate of silver. The fluid that affected turmeric retained 

 this property after being strongly boiled ; and it appeared 

 more vivid as the quantity became reduced by evaporation; 

 carbonate of ammonia was mixed with it, and the whole dried 

 and exposed to a strong heat: a minute quantity of white 

 matter remained, which, as far as my examination could go^ 

 had the properties of carbonate of soda. I compared it with 

 similar minute portions of the pure carbonates of potash and 

 soda. It was not so deliquescent as the former of these 

 bodies, and it formed a salt with nitric acid, which like ni- 

 trate of soda soon attracted moisture from a damp atmos- 

 phere, and became fluid. 



This result was unexpected, but it was far from convincing 

 me, that the substances which I had obtained were generated. 

 In a similar process with glass tubes, carried on exactly under 

 the same circumstances, and for the same time, I obtained a, 

 quantity of alkali which must have been more than twenty 

 times greater, but no traces ef muriatic acid. There was 

 tncch probability, that the agate might contain some minute 

 • portion of saline matter, not easily detected by chemical 

 analysis, either in combination, or intimate adhesion in it« 

 |)ores. To determine this, I repeated the experiment a second, 

 a third, and a fourth time. In the second experiment turbid- 

 ness was still produced by solution of nitrate of siWer in the 

 tube containing the acid, but it was less distinct; in the third 

 process it was barely perceptible: and in the fourth the two 

 fluids remained perfectly clear after the mixture. The quan- 

 tity of alkaline matter diminished in every operation ; and in 

 the last process, though the battery had been kept in great 

 activity for three days, the fluid possessed in a very slight 

 degree only the power of acting on paper tinged with tur- 

 meric; but its alkaline property was very sensible to litmus 

 paper slightly reddened, which is a much more delicate test: 

 and after evaporation and the process by carbonate of am- 

 monia, a barely perceptible quantity of fixed alkali was Still 

 Jeft. The acid matter in the other tube was abundant ; its 

 4a.ste was sour; it smelt like /skater over which large quan- 



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