THE 

 LONDON, EDINBURGH and DUBLIN 



PHILOSOPHICAL MAGAZINE 



AND 



JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. 



; 4. 



[THIRD SERIES.] 



AUGUST 1841. 



XVIII. On some Electro-Nitrogurets. By W. R. Grove, 

 Esq. M.A. F.R.S* 



HPHE amrnoniacal amalgam, or that extraordinary substance 

 * which is formed by electrolysing solutions of ammonia 

 or its salts with mercury at the cathode, first discovered by 

 Dr. Seebeck, has at various periods attracted the attention of 

 the most distinguished chemists, and from being the apparent 

 link between the metals and permanent gases, must ever be 

 an object of deep interest. The experiments which I here 

 venture to lay before the Royal Society, will be found, I trust, 

 to throw some light upon this compound, to connect the am- 

 rnoniacal amalgam with the experiments performed by dif- 

 ferent philosophers upon the decomposition of ammonia du- 

 ring its passage over heated metals, to explain some anomalies 

 in these effects, and to make known some new and curious 

 combinations. 



The first experiment which I made on the amrnoniacal 

 amalgam was to freeze it, which, by the kindness of Mr. Everett, 

 I was enabled to do in the laboratory of the Middlesex Hos- 

 pital, and at which experiment Professor Schonbein, of Basle, 

 was present. A mass of the compound formed by immersing 

 an amalgam of potassium in muriate of ammonia was sub- 

 jected to solid carbonic acid liquefied in the usual way by sul- 

 phuric aether; it froze readily, but at what exact temperature 

 we had no means of ascertaining; at the moment of solidifying 

 it contracted slightly, but without giving out any gas ; in its 



* Communicated by the Author; having been read before the Royal 

 Society, on the 4th of February, 1841. 



Phil. Mag. S. 3. Vol. 19. No. 122. Aw. 1841. H 



