on various Oljects. 23 



time, there is a great diminution of volume, and that the 

 nitrous gas becomes converted into nitrous oxide, and that 

 suIptuiMS deposited which has an ammoniacal ,-mcll. I 

 repeated this experiment several times in 1800 with similar 

 results, and I found, that the diminution of the yolume of 

 the gases when they were mixed in equal proportions., was 

 to rather less than j , which seemed to be nitrous oxide. 



In reasoning upon this phenomenon, I saw grounds for 

 a minute investigation of it. Sulphuretted hydrogen, as 

 appears from experiments which I have stated on a former 

 occasion, and from some that I shall detail towards the 

 conclusion of this lecture, contains a volume of hydrogen 

 equal to its own. But one of hydrogen demands half 

 its volume of oxygen to convert it into water, and nitrous 

 gas consists of about half a part in volume of oxygen ; so 

 ihar, supposing the whole of the hydrogen employed in ab- 

 sorbing oxygen from nitrous gas, nitrogen alone ought to 

 he formed, and not nitrous oxide. Or, if the whole of the 

 gas is nitrous oxide, this should contain all the nitrogen of 

 the nitrous gas, leaving none to be supplied to the am- 

 monia. I mixed together five cubical inches of nitrous 

 fas, and five of sulphuretted hydrogen over mercury, the 

 arometer being at 2Q-5 in \ thermometer at .51° Fahrenheit; 

 twelve hours had elapsed before any change was perceived; 

 there was then a whitish precipitate formed, and a deep 

 yellow liquid becran to appear in drops, on the inside of the 

 jar, and the volume of the gases quicklv diminished; 

 after two days the diminution ceased, and the volume be^ 

 came stationary; the barometer was at 30 , 45 :n# , and ther-r 

 momcter 52° Fahrenheit ; when it equalled 2*3. The gas 

 proved to be about | nitrous oxide, and the remaining 

 fourth was inflammable. An experiment was made ex- 

 pressly to determine the nature of the deep yellow liquid in 

 the jar. It proved to be of the same kind as Boyle's 

 fuming liquor, the hydrosulphuret of ammonia, but with 

 sulphur in great excess. 



In this experiment there was evidently no formation 

 of nitrogen, and these complicated changes ended in the 

 production of two new compounds; nitrogen, hydrogen; 

 oxygen and sulphur combining to form one; and a part of 

 the nitrogen and oxygen, becoming more condensed, to 

 form another. 



Having stated the results of the investigation on the pro- 

 duction of nitrous acid and of ammonia, in various pro- 

 ceases of chemistry, I shall notice some attempts that I 

 made to decompound nitrogen, by agents which I con- 



B 4 ceive4 



