d On soTne Chcniical Agenc'ie^ of Electricifj/. 



quescent as the former of these bodies, and it formed a salt 

 with nitric acid, which, like nitrate of soda, soon attracted 

 uioisture from a damp atmosphere, and became fimd. 



This result was unexpected, but it was far fionj convin- 

 cing me that the substances which I had obtained were gene- 

 rated. In a similar process, with glass tubes, carried on 

 exactly undei- the same circumstances, and for the same 

 time, I obtained a quantity of alkali which must have been 

 more than twenty times greater, but no traces of muriatic 

 acid. There was much probability that the agate might con- 

 tain some minute portion of saline matter, not easily de- 

 tected by chemical analysis, either in conjbination or intimate 

 adhesion in its pores. To determine this, I repeated the ex- 

 periment a second, a third, and a fourth time. In the se- 

 cond experiment turbidness was still produced by solution 

 of nitrate of silver in the tube containing the acid, but it 

 was less distinct ; in the third process it was barely per- 

 ceptible; and ill the fourth the two fluids remained perfectly 

 clear after the iriixture. The quantity of alkaline matter di- 

 minished in every operation ; and in the last process, though 

 the battery had been kept in great activity for three days, 

 the fluid possessed in a very slight degree only the power of 

 acting on paper tinged with turmeric; but its alkaline pro- 

 rertv was very sensible to litmus paper slightly reddened, 

 which is a much more delicate test ; and after evaporation 

 and the process by carbonate of ammonia, a barfly percepti- 

 ble quantity of fixed alkali was still left. The acid matter 

 in the other tube was abundant ; its taste was sour; it sn)elt 

 like wa er over which large quantities of nitrous gas have 

 been long kept; it did noi affect solution of muriate of ba- 

 rytes ; and a drop of it pi iced upon a polished plate of silver 

 left after evaporation a black stain, precisely similar to that 

 produced by extremely diluted nitrous acid. 



After these results I could no longer doubt that some sa- 

 line matter existing in the agate tubes had been the source 

 of the acid matter capable of precipitating nitrate of silver, 

 and of much of the alkali. Four additional repetitions of 

 the process, however, convinced me that there was likewise 

 some other cause for the presence of this last substance ; for 



it 



