4:14' PELOUZE ON CERTAIN COMBINATIONS OF A NEW ACID, 



sition of the same class as the singular ones which M. Thenard 

 observed with oxigenated water. In fact this is the case : many bodies 

 which decompose the deutoxide of hj'drogen, without either losing 

 or gaining anything, equally decompose the nitrosulohates. Amongst 

 these are the fine spongy pjafcina, oxide of si've>-, metallic silver, pow- 

 dered charcoal, oxide oT manganese : the two fiist bodies ace moreover 

 with extreme ifoidity I'oor the nitrosulphote oi' ammonia. 



I convinced myself that )his rema'kable phaenomenon was due, as in 

 the case of the oxygenated water, to an aci.ion of presence, and that 

 nothing is ever produced but a simple transformation ol' the nitiosul- 

 phate of ammonia into pi'otoxide of azote and sulphate of ammonia. 

 Oxide oi silver is not reduced; for if we wash it. nicer having caused 

 it to decompose a great quantiiy of salt, it aissoives finally in nitric 

 acid, widiout ihe disengagement of red fumes. 



ItAvas interesting to attempt to obtain the metallic nitrosulnhates by 

 pouring a solution of nitrosu'phate of ammonia into salts whose bases 

 were o?ades insoluble in water. The experiment was made with liquids 

 previously cooled to seveval degrees below zero ; it gave the following 

 results. Chloride of mercurj, the sulphates of zinc and copper, the 

 pei'sulphate of iron, the protonitrate of mercury, the chloruret of 

 chrome, the nitrate of silver, produced a brisk eiTervescence, which is 

 attributable to a disengagement of the protoxide of azote : there was 

 formed a', the same time suln'iate oPanjmonia, which mixed v/i'h these 

 saline solutions w-thout lessening theic transparence. With acetate 

 of lead there was also an efl'ervescence and production of sulphate of 

 lead. 



It would be very difficult to discover the probable cause of these 

 singular phaenomena; butfrom this very cause, of their present inexplica- 

 bility, they appeared to me the more to merit the attention of chemists; 

 and what indeed is more calculated to excite curiosity than to see a salt, 

 by simple contact wiJi a body which absolutely gives nothing to it 

 and takes nothing from it, decompose with an extreme rapidily, and 

 form new substances, in the midst of which the agent which pro- 

 duces these violent actions remains chemically passive ? 



We are already acquainted Avith two bodies, oxygenated water and 

 hydruret of sulphur, possessing ihe property of decomposing under the 

 influence of a simple action of presence. M. Thenard, to whom we 

 owe the first observation, had foreseen thai facts of this kind would 

 multiply, and that they would open to the chemist a new field for in- 

 quiry M hich would enlarge every day. 



I should not omit to mention another fact, which brings into still closer 

 connection the nitrosulphates of oxigenated water ; namciy, that these 

 salts, mixed witn alkaline soUuions, cease to decompose under the in- 

 fluence of the same bodies which destroy them so rapidly when tiiey 



