Solvent Action of Muriate and Nitrate of Aminotiia, 95 



not feel less inclined now, than when I made and published 

 it, to regard it as unfavourable to the exi^tence of the sup- 

 posed general law. The differences between this experiment 

 and that of Dr. Faraday on fused periodide of mercury, are, 

 that in the latter the conduction is stated to be feeble, and no 

 signs of decomposition are visible ; whilst in the former the 

 conduction is so marked as to impress the mind with the idea 

 that decomposition by the electric current is going forward. 

 The signs of decomposition are obvious, although undoubt- 

 edly in part at least due to heat ; and the relative number 

 of the constituent atoms of the substance acted upon are much 

 more unequal. Various other considerations are hostile to 

 the general law referred to, some of which are stated in the 

 above memoir*. 



In the hope that you may find a corner for the preceding 

 observations, I remain, Gentlemen, 



Your very faithful Servant, 

 Edinburgh, Nov. 28, 1836. Arthur Connell. 



XXI. On the Solubility of certain Metallic Oxides and Salts 

 in Muriate and Nitrate of Ammonia, By R. H. Brett, 

 Esq., F.L.S4 



TJpROM a notice contained in the Supplement to the Decem- 

 ■- ber Number of the Philosophical Magazine, (vol. ix. p. 540), 

 of some experiments of M. Vogel on the solubility of the earthy 

 carbonates in muriate of ammonia, corroborated by some expe- 

 riments on that subject performed by Mr. J. D. Smith, I have 

 been induced to extend the inquiry, for the purpose of ascer- 

 taining whether the same salt, as well as the nitrate of ammo- 

 nia, exerted any solvent action over certain earthy and alkaline 

 salts, which are either insoluble or very sparingly soluble in 

 water, and how far this solvent power extended to the metallic 

 oxides (more ordinarily met with) and their salts insoluble in 

 water. The following are the results : 



Salts of Lime. — 1. The carbonate and phosphate readily 

 dissolve in cold solutions of the muriate of ammonia as well 

 as the nitrate, the earthy salts being recently precipitated. 



* The volume of the Edinburgh Transactions to which the above me- 

 moir belongs has only now come out, but besides the above-mentioned 

 distribution of the printed memoir, the Society's abstract of the paper re- 

 ferred to was published a year and a half ago, and in it the experiment on 

 fused iodic acid is particularly described. A different abstract appeared in 

 Professor Jameson's Journal (July 1835), in which the other topics of the 

 paper were treated at greater length, whilst those above referred to were 

 for the sake of brevity omitted. 



t Communicated by the Author. 



