AND ON THE CONSTITUTION OF HYPONITRIC ACID. 431 
multiple proportions, it remains to be seen whether the hyponi- 
tric acid is a distinct oxide of nitrogen or not. 
38. If, for reasons on which the first hypothesis is founded, the 
hyponitric acid were composed according to the formula NO® 
+ NO®, nitrous acid should consist of 2NO* + NO®, on ac- 
count of the action which an excess of nitric oxide has on the 
nitric acid, and the property which the body generated by this 
action possesses of being decomposed into the binary compounds 
which had formed it, when brought into the presence of water 
or any base. However, nitrous acid yields no chlorine with hy- 
drochloric acid ; it contains therefore no nitric acid, and we may 
thence conclude that the hyponitric acid likewise contains none. 
39. If the hyponitric acid were constituted according to the 
formula NO* + 2NO®, nitric oxide should be disengaged in 
the reaction of hydrochloric acid upon a solution of this acid in 
concentrated sulphuric acid, which however is not the case. 
40. This question may be otherwise solved if we take into 
consideration the amount of stability, and then two things are 
to be considered. ‘The first is the relative stability of the com- 
pounds NO® and NO*, and the second that of the acids HO 
+ NO® and NO? + NO?®, or NO? + 2NO°, 
The greater stability of NO* in comparison to NO*, may be 
ascribed to a similar cause as that which produces the relative 
stability of the compounds NO, NO?, NO*%, NO*. It may 
likewise be ascribed to the affinity of NO® for NO® or NO?. 
In the first case, the hyponitric acid is a distinct oxide of nitro- 
gen, in the second it is not. 
If this acid is composed according to the formula NO® + NO5 
or of NO? + 2NO°, it must be more permanent than HO + NO®, 
because the former can be produced by the action of nitric 
oxide upon the second, and because the stability of a com- 
pound depends on its affinity, or is otherwise proportional to 
the affinity of the binary compounds which constitute these 
combinations*. Now the preceding observations and considera- 
tions show that the hyponitric acid is less stable than the hy- 
drated nitric acid, consequently that it is not a combination of 
nitric acid with nitrous acid or nitric oxide. 
* Supposing the bodies to be under the same conditions of existence as in 
the above case. 
