On the C07tjiituent Paris of Azof. 335 



fpondent changes which thefe fubftances undergo in their 

 chemical a6lion upon light. 



6thly, The evanefcence, or, as it is frequently termed, the 

 abforption, of light, is to be referred to the complete refolu-' 

 tion of this compound into its conftituent parts. 



VIII. Memoir on Azof, and on the Quejlion, Whether it be a 

 fimple or a coinpound Body. By CHRISTOPHER GiR- 

 TANNER, M. D. of Gottingcn*. 



X 



HE nioft celebrated chemifts have long known the 

 important part which azot performs in all the operations of 

 nature. LavoiGer, Fourcroy, Berthollet, Van Mons, Guy- 

 ton, Chaptal, Vauquelin, Prieftley, Van Maruni, Goettling, 

 Wiegleb, Von Hauch, Pacts, Van Trooftwyk, Delman, and 

 feveral others, have endeavoured, with more or lefs fuccefs, 

 to ftudy its nature; and it is to their labours united that we 

 are indebted for a knowledge of its lingular properties, whic^i 

 are very different from thofe of the other aeriform fluids 

 with whofe bafes we are acquainted. 



But it is in organifed bodies that this fingular principle 

 feems to perform the mo ft diltinguiflied part. In the re- 

 fearches I have made for twelve years, refpefting the me- 

 chanifm of life in animals and plants, I always found myfelf 

 flopped by this too little known principle. la my experi- 

 ments I faw it appear and difappear, without being able to 

 fix it, or to explain in what manner it had introduced itfelf 

 into the body from which I extracted it. I began, therefore, 

 to fufped that azot was not a fimple body, but a compound. 

 I formed feveral conjectures, which my experiments proved 

 to be falfc; and, defpairmg of fuccefs, I had entirely given 

 up purfuing this fubjeft, when the difpute which arofe re- 

 fpedling the azotic gas drawn from the fteam of water, in- 

 duced me to turn my attention to it once more. This dii- 

 pute is not yet terminated, notwithftanding all that has been 

 faid for and againfl the convcrfion of fteam into gas by 



* From the Annates di' Chimie, No. 100. This is the memoir an-^ 

 nounccd ia the preceding numl;er of the PhilofopUical Maga7> 1-, p. 216. 



Goettling, 



