312 Mr. Schweitzer oji an Analysis of the 



tate was dried at 212° Fahr. and weighed lo'-tOS grs. To 

 control the correctness of the weight, the precipitate and filter 

 were placed in a platina crucible, and ignited in the manner 

 described by H. Rose in his Analytical Manual, when 6*8 138 

 grs. of platina were obtained, which corresponds with the 

 amount of platina derived by calculation from IS'dOegrs,, 

 viz. 6'814'2 grs. The amount of ammonia calculated from 

 these data for 16 ounces is 3'033 grs. 



If we now arrange the electro-negative and electro-positive 

 ingredients, thus established, into binary combinations in the 

 ratio of their mutual affinities, it will be found that there is a 

 surplus of bases, one of which must obviously be united to 

 the organic matter ; and I am inclined to think that a com- 

 bination of ammonia and organic matter has existed. I regret 

 that the small quantity of water (12 wine bottles) obtained for 

 analysis from Scotland did not permit me to study the nature 

 of the organic matter, but there is no doubt that it belonged 

 to the gi'oup of decaying substances. The kvf experiments 

 I was enabled to perform evidenced the absence of crenic and 

 apocrenic acid, namely, when the water was evaporated to 

 one-tenth of its volume, neutralized by acetic acid, and mixed 

 with acetate of copper and heated, no indication of these acids 

 was perceptible. Acetate of lead gave a precipitate ; it did 

 not however separate the organic matter entirely. That the 

 source of ammonia stands in intimate connection wiih that of 

 the organic matter admits scarcely of doubt, particularly 

 since Mulder* and R. Herrman of Moscow have established 

 that some of the class of humus acids contain ammonia. If 

 mouldering wood, garden-earth, &c. are extracted by alcohol 

 and then with water, and the residue treated with alkalies, a 

 humus acid is obtained,which, besides carbon and the elements 

 of water, contains a certain proportion of ammonia in che- 

 mical combination. By the analysis of such an acid derived 

 from the soil of a meadow, the following results were obtained, 

 expressed in this formula: — 



Mulder's analyses prove also that in a fertile soil combina- 

 nations of ammonia with those acids exist, derived from the 

 decay of vegetable matter ; but these acids correspond with 

 humus acid, inasmuch as they have the same number of equi- 

 valents of carbon (40), but vary in the proportion of oxygen 

 and hydrogen. It is obvious from the foregoing results, that 

 mineral waters containing alkalies, when they come in contact 

 with strata interspersed with humus, must become partly im- 



* See ^erzeViwi'fi Jahresbericht, 21st Jahrgang, 13rd Heft. 



