Dr. Kane on the Compounds of Ammonia. 43 



No quantitative analysis of this body has been recorded, and as from the 

 remarkable circumstances of its decomposition by heat, it is of great importance 

 that its composition should be accurately known, the following analysis was 

 made : 



5.982 grammes were introduced into a globe with a strong solution of potash ; 

 from this globe there passed a bent tube, dipping into a tall jar containing water 

 with muriatic acid. The mass in the globe was boiled until all the ammonia had 

 been set free, and more than one-half of the liquor had distilled over. The fluid 

 in the jar was then carefully evaporated in a water-bath to dryness, and the sal 

 ammoniac obtained was found to weigh 4.717 or 78.85 per cent., containing 

 25.23 of ammonia. 



The liquor remaining in the globe was diluted with water, and, when cold, 

 filtered ; the oxide of copper remaining weighed 1.856 grammes, corresponding 

 to 31.03 per cent. 



These numbers give the formula cwo.no5-|"2nh3, by which there should 

 have been obtained 



Experiment. 

 31.03 



25.23 



128.02 100.00 



Since during the process for the formation of the ammonia-nitrate, the first 

 stage consists in the production of the ordinary subnitrate of copper, the nitric 

 acid in the ultimate product must unavoidably be considered as united with 

 ammonia, and hence the above empirical formula must, in assuming a rational 

 form, become 



(NH3.H0) NO5 -j- CMNHj, 



from which it follows, that the copper in this compound is united with amido- 

 gene. 



It is now easy to explain the various circumstances in which this body differs 

 from the similarly constituted ammonia-chloride and sulphate just described. By 

 the application of heat, the evolution of ammonia and water cannot occur, since 

 the second group cmnHj is not of a nature precisely to replace it. The trace of 



g2 



