[ 440 } 
LXXIV. An Attempt to determine the definite and simple Pro- 
portions, in which the constituent Parts of unorganic Sub- 
stances are united with each other. By Jacop BERzE- 
Lius, Professor of Medicine and Pharmacy, and M.R.A. 
Stockholm. 
[Continued from p. 386.] 
SECOND CONTINUATION. 
[From the original German, as arranged, with some little Modification of 
the Author’s Subdivisions, by Professor GiLBERT. ] 
Nitric Acip AND NITRATES, AS AFFORDING PROOFS 
THAT NITROGEN IS NOT CHEMICALLY SIMPLE. 
I TRUST that in my Essay on definite Proportions, and in 
its First Continuation, { have completely established the 
doctrine, that all salts are composed of an acid and a hase . 
in such proportions, that the oxygen contained in the acid 
is a multiple by a whole number of the quantity contained 
in the base. But in these investigations I have not yet 
treated of the nitric acid. I intended not to have made 
known my analysis of the nitrates before I published my 
investigations relating to animal substances; but they may 
more properly be introduced on the present occasion, partly 
because they confirm the proposition which has been men- 
tioned, and partly because they may serve as an addition to 
the proofs of the compound nature of nitrogen which have 
been stated in the First Continuation of my Essay. 
TI. Nirric Acip. 
Aitempt to determine its Composiiion from its Capacity of 
Saiuration. ~ 
In this investigation a great difficulty arises from the im- 
possibility of depriving the nitrates of their water of crystal- 
lization, without decomposing more or less of the acid ; re) 
that one cannot infer with certainty the quantity of the acid, 
from that of the base which is left behind; a circumstance 
which long deterred me from the undertaking. But since 
it became necessary for the inferences whieh were to be 
drawn from my analyses of avimal bodies, to determine 
how far nitrogen, from the modification of its electrical 
properties, might be considered as a simple body, I deter- 
mined to attempt to overcome these difficulties, ‘and I have 
succeeded far beyond my expectation. The nitrates, which 
I chose for this investigation, were those of baryta, prot- 
oxide of lead, and ammonia. : 
Nitrate 
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