138 Hartiing and Rivett: Ammonium Chloride. 



the quantity of (dried) B taken. When 10 per cent, of sodium 

 chloride was mixed with the earth sample before analysis, the yield 

 was increased to 0.29 per cent. These figures must not he given too 

 much weight, for the amounts of material dealt with were small, and 

 it is possible that traces of sodium chloride may have been volatilised 

 during the combustion. In any case, the amount of ammonium 

 chloride produced must depend very largely upon the conditions 

 of the combustion, such as air supply, temperature, time, and so on. 

 The attempt to reproduce artificially the natural combustion is, of 

 course, difficult, and the result is inevitably unsatisfactory. 



Conclusion. 



In most, if not all, places where ammonium chloride occurs 

 naturally, there is present vegetable matter in a more or less 

 advanced state of decay, together with chlorides. The production of 

 ammonium chloride is greatly accelerated by heating, and the 

 occurrences near volcanoes such as Etna, Stromboli, Vesuvius, and 

 others are greatest where lava spreads over soil and vegetation. 



Abegg (Hdb. anorg. Chem., III., 3, p. 250) states that in Egypt, 

 where ammonium chloride is obtained from the soot from burnt 

 camel dung, ammonia is probably formed by processes of decay in 

 the dung before burning. This, however, is most likely not so in 

 the other case cited by Abegg, where ammonium chloride is pro- 

 duced by burning a mixture of coal, salt, animal offal and clay. 

 Probably here the first stage is the destructive distillation by heat 

 of the organic matter, with the production of ammonia or simple 

 ammoniacal compounds. Reaction occurs between these and the 

 metallic chlorides. There is every reason to suppose that this 

 is what is happening in the Frankston deposit. One may suppose 

 that there is a considerable supply along the seashore of the 

 material necessary for such a formation of ammonium chloride. 



The authors wish to record their thanks to Mr. T. W. Corrigan, 

 of Frankston for bringing this occurrence to their notice, through. 

 Mr. II. Hartung, and for facilitating their observations. 



