262 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



concentration ; a most quiet decomposition ensues, and the liquid 

 readily evaporates to dry ness leaving nothing but the fixed alkalies if 

 they be present. I am in the habit of using a little more than three 

 grammes of pure nitric acid of ordinary strength to every gramme of 

 sal-ammoniac supposed to be present in the liquid. The exact nature 

 of the decomposition which ensues cannot now be stated, but there is 

 doubtless formed, besides other things chlorine, hyponitric acid and 

 nitrogen. 



