on various Objects, -9 



continued exposure to potash, and were very carefully 

 weighed. Their relative specific gravities proved to be at 

 3()-b m ' barometer, 51° Fahrenheit's thermometer. 



For nitrogen, the 100 cubical inches 29*8 grains. 



For hydrogen, ditto 2*27 



For ammonia 18*4 



Now, if these data be calculated upon, it will be found, 

 that in the decomposition of 100 of ammonia, taking even 

 the largest proportions of gases evolved, there is a loss 

 °f tV*5 aiu l " lne smallest proportion be taken, the loss 

 will be nearly T \. 



These results and calculations agree with those that I 

 have before given, and with those of Dr. Henry. 



The lately discovered facts in chemistry, concerning the 

 important modifications which bodies may undergo by very 

 slight additions or subtractions of new matter, ought to 

 render us cautious in deciding upon the nature of the pro- 

 cess of the electrical decomposition of ammonia. 



It is possible, that the minute quantity of oxygen which 

 appears to be separated is not accidental, but a result of 

 the decomposition ; and if hydrogen and nitrogen be both 

 oxides of the same basis, the possibility of the production 

 of different proportions of water, in different operations, 

 might account for the variations observed in some cases In 

 their relative proportions ; but on the whole, the idea that 

 ammonia is decomposed into hydrogen and nitrogen alone, 

 by electricity, and that the loss of weight is no more than 

 is to be expected in processes of so delicate a kind, is, in 

 my opinion, the most defensible view of the subject. 



But if ammonia be capable of decomposition into nitro- 

 gen and hydrogen, what, it will be asked, is the nature of 

 the matter existing in the amalgam of ammonia ? what is 

 the metallic basis of the volatile alkali? These are ques- 

 tions intimately connected with the whole of the arrange- 

 ments of chemistry; and they are questions, which, as our 

 instruments of experiment now exist, it will not, I fear, be 

 easy to solve. 



I have stated in my former communication on the amal- 

 gam from ammonia, that, under all the common circum- 

 stances of its production, it seems to preserve a quantity of 

 water adhering to it, which may be conceived to be suffi- 

 cient to oxidate the metal, and to reproduce the ammonia. 



* 100 of ammonia at the rale of 185, will give 130*9 of hydrogen, weigh- 

 ing 3-1 grains, and 481 of nitrogen, weighing 14-33 grains; but 184— 17-4 

 = 1, and at the rate of 180, 133 of hydrogen weighing 3 01 and 47 of nitro- 

 gen weighing 14, and 18-4—17 = 1-4'. 



I have 



