A 



JOURNAL 



OP 



NATURAL PHILOSOPHY, CHEMISTRY, 



AND 



THE ARTS. 



APRIL, 1811, 



ARTICLE I. 



Observations and Experiments on the Alkaline Metalloids: by 

 J. Murray, Lecturer on Chemistry, $^c., Edinburgh. 



To Mr. NICHOLSON. 

 SIR, 



Jl HE speculation with regard to the nature of the metal- Berthollef's re. 

 lie bases oF the alkalis, which I venture to submit to your ma^ks on wa- 

 reuders in the following pages, occurred to me some months ' 



ago, on perusing a paper by Berthollet in the 2d volume of 

 the Menioires D'Arcueil, on the existence of combined wa- 

 ter in potash. Having only lately had it in my power to 

 perform the experiments connected with the investigation, 

 I now transmit to you a general account of the results, 

 which may not perhaps be without interest in the present 

 state of chemical inquiries. 



In the memoir to which I allude, Berthollet relates expe- which cannot 

 riments, which appear to prove, that potash prepared by ^"^ expelled br 

 the usual process contains a considerable proportion of wa- 

 ter, from which, while it exists in an insulated state, it 

 cannot be freed by the application of heat. The heat at 



Vol. XXVHL No. 129— April, 181L R firit 



