276 Compounds of Boron and Silicon with Nitrogen. 



its composition to be Zn 2 N 3 B 2 ) to two atoms of the chloride, 

 it yielded, with chloride of lead, a white solid which gave 

 ammonia abundantly when heated with a mixture of hydrate 

 of lime and carbonate of potass, and phosphoresced with 

 a yellowish green light at the point of the blowpipe flame ; 

 water boiled with it afterwards gave no precipitate with nitrate 

 of silver, and when it was heated before the blowpipe with 

 soda upon charcoal, it gave a distinct button of lead and only 

 a minute trace of zinc ; with chloride of copper, a result 

 similar to that obtained by heating together cyanide of copper 

 and boracic acid. 



With chloride of silver, a result which resembled the lead 

 compound, and phosphoresced brilliantly with a yellowish - 

 green light. It was not decomposed by hydrochloric acid, 

 nor by chlorine at a low red heat, nor by corrosive sublimate, 

 and indeed appeared under all circumstances as stable as the 

 rest, remaining unaltered even when heated in a tube with 

 sodium and potassium. With the chlorides of sodium, ba- 

 rium, strontium, calcium and manganese, results which ap- 

 peared to be " boronitrurets" of those metals ; but in these 

 cases the experiments were made with small quantities, solely 

 with a hope of finding a soluble compound ; and as not one 

 of them would yield ammonia when boiled in water with hy- 

 drate of lime and carbonate of potass, and as water after 

 ebullition in contact with them gave no precipitate with so- 

 lutions of the oxides of lead, silver, copper, iron, &c, I con- 

 cluded that I had not been successful in my search. 



Six parts of silica heated to whiteness with thirteen parts 

 of cyanide of potassium gave a brittle porous vitreous solid, 

 which, after being well washed, yielded ammonia abundantly 

 when heated with hydrate of lime and carbonate of potass. 

 Heated with fused potass it yielded ammonia abundantly. 

 After ebullition with sulphuric acid it still yielded ammonia 

 when heated with hydrate of lime and carbonate of potass. 

 In the deoxidizing flame it fused tranquilly, and in the oxidi- 

 zing with escape of gas. With carbonate of soda it gave a 

 red bead in the deoxidizing flame, the colour of which disap- 

 peared in the oxidizing flame, and could not be recovered. 

 After being heated with nitrate of ammonia and well washed, 

 it yielded ammonia with hydrate of lime and carbonate of 

 potass, more abundantly than before. From this it appears 

 that a compound of silicon and nitrogen with potassium ana- 

 logous to the boron compound had been formed, and that it 

 is nearly as stable as that substance ; but as I had no means 

 of separating the compound from impurity, nothing further 

 can be said at present. 



