1 78 Analysis of several Varieties of 



the mass was sufficiently heated to expel the ammoniacal 

 salts. I found, however, that at this temperature the sul- 

 phate of ammonia acted upon the muriate of soda, and 

 produced an additional and not inconsiderable quantity of 

 sulphate of soda. 



Having determined, by the foregoing processes, the 

 quantity and kind of (he earthy muriates, the amount of 

 the insoluble matter, and the proportion of sulphates, the 

 weights of all these different impurities were added together ; 

 and the sum being deducted from the weight of the sale 

 submitted to experiment, the remainder was assumed as 

 the amount of the pure muriate of soda in the specimen 

 under examination *. 



Though I purposely refrain from giving the details of the 

 several analyses, which were made according to the fore- 

 going plan, from the conviction that they would be both 

 tedious and unnecessary, yet there are a few circumstances 

 which it may be proper to mention more fully than car* 

 be done in the form of a table. 



1. The brine which I examined was from Northwich, 

 and was sent to me in the state in which it was taken fro»ri 

 the spring f. At the temperature of 56° Fahrenheit, it had 

 the specific gravity of 1205. It was perfectly limpid, but 

 lost a little of its transparency when raised to a boiling 

 heat, in consequence of the deposition of a very minute 

 quantity of carbonate of lime and oxi^e of iron. It was 

 immediately precipitated by muriate of barytes, oxalate of 

 ammonia, and alkaline solutions, both mild and caustic. 

 Eight ounce measures, evaporated to dryness in a sand heat, 

 gave 1230 grains of salt, which, for the sake of distinction, 

 I term entire salt. It proved, on analysis, to contain i« 

 one thousand parts J ; 



* I have deemed it unnecessary to state, in the table, the quantities of 

 acid and base in the several varieties of muriate of soda. They may readily 

 be estimated from the proportion, deduced by Dr. Marcet, of 46 acid, and 

 54 soda, in 100 of the pure muriate. In this determination he assumes, that 

 100 parts of luna cornea, after being melted and heated to redness, consist 

 of 1905 parts of acid, to 80-95 oxide of silver. This statement agrees very 

 nearly with the recent one of Gay Lussac, who makes 100 parts of silver 

 to combine with 7-60 oxygen, and this oxide to neutralize 25'71 parts of 

 real muriatic acid. 



4- I have lately been informed that this brine had been pumped out of a 

 rock-salt mine, into which, from the impossibility of obtaining the salt in a 

 solid form, it was allowed to flow. Hence it was fully saturated with muriate 

 of soda. 



| The specific gravity and proportion of earthy sulphates in Cheshire brine 

 appears to differ considerably in the brine of different springs. See Hol- 

 land's Cheshire Report, p. 45, &c. 



Carbonate 



