Dr. Kane on the Compounds of Ammonia. 15 



heavier and more granular, it was natural to expect from it a different constitu- 

 tion. If the solutions of nitrate of mercury and of ammonia be mixed, while hot, 

 or if they be boiled after mixture, the same modification is produced ; and as 

 Soubeiran had been led astray by the effects of boiling white precipitate, it 

 might be inferred that his discordant results arose from his operating with hot 

 solutions in this case also. The powder, thus prepared, gives the same results of 

 decomposition as the former ; potash, even boiling, exerts no action on either, 

 giving out no ammonia, and no oxide of mercury separating. The following 

 analyses were made : 



A. 7.185 grammes were dissolved in muriatic acid, and the solution precipi- 

 tated by sulphuretted hydrogen. The sulphuret produced weighed Q.*l&6, or 

 94.17 per cent., containing 81.24 of mercury. 



B. 7.353 of another portion were dissolved in muriatic acid, and the mercury 

 precipitated by proto-chloride of tin. There were obtained 5.978 grammes, 

 being 81.28 per cent. 



When this powder, diffused through water, is treated by sulphuretted hydro- 

 gen, there is formed sulphuret of mercury, and the li(juor contains neutral nitrate 

 of ammonia. 



From these results, and the quantity of quicksilver coinciding so closely with 

 that obtained by Soubeiran, there is no doubt but that the substance is the same 

 as that upon which he operated. 



The formula given by Soubeiran is N05-lr-NH3-|-4Hg'0, which gives the 

 numbers 



Aug = 405.60 79.71 



4o = 32.00 6.29 



NO5 = 54.14 10.63 



NH, = 17.14 3.37 



508.88 100.00 



He however obtained 80.08 mercury per cent., or more than he should by 

 his formula; and he proved that the nitric acid and ammonia could not exist in 

 the powder as common nitrate of ammonia. Indeed he expressly states that the 

 clearing up the nature of the function played by ammonia in these combinations 

 should be left to a future period in science. Under these circumstances there can 



