276 Experiments on the Nature of [Oct. 



ceding paper as existing in the Saxon grey ore of manganese 

 was examined, soon after the publication of the paper, by Ber- 

 zelius; and the appearances were shown by him not to depend 

 upon the presence of any new metal, but to be owing to man- 

 ganese. 



Article VL 



Experiments on the Nature of Azote, of Hydrogen, and of 

 Ammonia, and upon the Degrees of Oxidation of which Axnte 

 is susceptible. By Jacob Berzelius, M. D. F. 11. S. Professor 

 of Chemistry and Pharmacy in Stockholm.* 



TiiEfollowing experiments arc to be considered as a continua- 

 tion of those which I have already published on the same subject 

 in the Annales de Chimie of Paris, and in the Annalen der 

 Physique of Gilbert, during the years 1811 and 1812. I have 

 endeavoured to prove that azote contains oxygen, and that 

 nitric acid neutralized by a saline base contains six times as 

 much oxygen as that base. By the most accurate of my expe- 

 riments I have found that the nitrate of lead is composed of 



Oxide of lead 67*3 



Nitric acid 32*7 



100 



Hence 100 parts of nitric acid are neutralized by 205*31 of 

 oxide of lead, a quantity which contains 14*715 of oxygen. In 

 the nitrate of barytes 100 parts of acid are combined with 

 140*73 parts of barytes, which contain 14*73 of oxygen (Ann. 

 de Chim. Nov. 1811, p. 174). Thus these two analyses mu- 

 tually confirm each other. 



I have endeavoured to prove that it is a general law that when 

 two oxidized substances combine, the oxygen contained in the 

 one is always either equal in quantity to that contained in the 

 other, or it is a multiple of it by a whole number. If we admit 

 this law to be correct, it follows from it that 100 parts of nitric 

 acid ought to contain a certain number of times 14*715 of 

 oxygen. This number of times must be greater than 4, because 

 decisive experiments have demonstrated that the acid contains 

 more oxygen than 14*715 x 4: but it cannot be greater than 7, 

 because that constitutes more than the weight of the acid. Hence 



* It may be proper to mention, for the information of T)r. Berzeliu 1 , that 

 this paper, though dated the 2?d April, -did not reach the Editor till the cud b'f 

 August. ... 



