430 Professor Kane on the Action of Ammonia 
Giving as the average of water per cent. 0,583 ; but of this a portion probably con- 
sists of moisture, hygrometric, or arising from imperfect desiccation of the precipitate. 
To obtain the ammonia, we must convert the azote into ammonia, and add it to that 
actually gotten; we thus find— 
Expt. 2d gives 1,282, or 6,26 per cent. 
3d 0,845, or 6,96. 
Giving an average of 6,61 per cent of ammonia. 
Summing up all the analytical results for white precipitate, we have— 
Process. Mercury. Chlorine. Ammonia. Water. 
A 79,57 13,87 
B 79,14 13,84 
c 77,70 
D 77,96 7,16 
E 6,53 
F 6,61 0,583 
And we obtain the final mean of 
. Mercury 78,60 
Chlorine 13,85 
Ammonia 6,77 
Water 0,58 
Loss 0,20 
100,00 
The theory of white precipitate given by the majority of chemists supposes it to 
consist of an atom of peroxide of mercury, united to an atom of sal-ammoniac. This 
view, which is founded on the experiments of Fourcroy and Hennell, gives the fol- 
lowing numerical results :— 
1 atom mercury 202,8 or 74,46 
2 oxygen 16,0 5,88 
1 muriatic acid 36,42 6,29 
1 Ammonia VS 13537, 
272,37 100,00 
The fallacy of this theoryis completely proved by the great difference in the de- 
termination of the mercury. ‘The result of Fourcroy was obtained so long since, that 
it necessarily participates in the imperfections of the analytic methods of that time ; 
and Hennell’s results are evidently of a very inaccurate description. He states that 
he got a quantity of mercury very near the atomic proportion, but does not give the 
number actually gotten; hence there cannot be placed implicit confidence in the 
theory he supports. In addition, the existence of a quantity of oxygen, so large 
per cent. (5,88) in white precipitate, is completely impossible. My researches, di- 
rected expressly to that object, sufficiently disprove such an idea. 
