of Niti-ification ; iioith an Extension of it. 177 



oxide of azote contains 36"07 parts oxygen ; the last portion, 

 therefore, of the air obtained in the experiments of Gav-Lussac 

 and Humboldt, contained almost as much oxygen as the oxide 

 of azote possesses : and we perceive that water exercises such 

 an action upon the oxygen and azote, as tends to combine 

 these gases in a more intimate manner than they exist in the 

 atmosphere. But if any other force should imite with that 

 of the water, is il not reasonable to think that the molecular 

 action of the gases will acquire more energy, and that there 

 will result from these united forces a combination which will 

 be nitric acid ; whether this acid is formed in following out 

 the whole chain of compounds known and unknown of oxy- 

 gen and azote, or is formed immediately by the first action of 

 these gases ? Now, the body which in nitrification seconds 

 the action of the water, is the lime of the chalk. So then, 

 tufa, chalk and nitrifiable materials act in nitrification both as 

 absorbents of water and air, and as presenting a base which 

 solicits the formation of nitric acid ; and water acts as an ab- 

 sorbent of oxygen and azote, and in commencing the combi- 

 nation of these gases." 



The greater portion of oxygen absorbed depends without 

 doubt simply upon the greater absorbability of that gas than of 

 azotic gas, and not as Mons. L. supposes, upon water exerting 

 " such an action upon the azote and oxygen as tends to unite 

 them in a more intimate manner than they exist in the atmo- 

 sphere." We embrace, however, M. Longchamp's funda- 

 mental proposition, — that it is from the action of the oxygen 

 and azote, held in solution by water, upon the carbonate of 

 lime, that the nitrate of lime results. All bodies, when in the 

 liquid state, possess their powers of combination most ener- 

 getically. Now I have formerly shown* that oxygen and 

 azotic gases, when absorbed by water, are really in the liquid 

 state ; there is, therefore, some reason for that activity with 

 which our theorist has invested them. 



Such is the theory of M. Longchamp ; and it appears to me 

 to be, as far as it goes, a true explanation of the phsenomena. 

 The process of nitrification is constantly going on in nature, 

 and in circumstances where no other agents appear to be em- 

 ployed, except carbonate of lime and the elements of the at- 

 mosphere. Hence, in circumstances in which animal matter 

 is superadded to these agents it is reasonable to think that the 

 latter does not contribute, in any essential way, to the nitrifi- 

 cation. Where nitrate of potasli is the ultimate result, it ap- 

 pears to be establislied that nitrate of lime pre-existed, and' 



* Annals of Philosophy, N. S. vol. xii. p. 69. 

 Nefw Series. Vol. 1. No. 3. March 1827. 2 A that 



