182 Experiments to determine the [Skit. 



dence, therefore, of the inaction of azote in the Voltaic circuit is 

 not fatal to the idea of its compound nature. We may conceive a 

 body to he easy' of decomposition in proportion to the balance of its 

 opposite electrical forces; but in proportion as a compound pos- 

 sesses an excess of one kind of energy ever another, with so much 

 more force will the weaker power he held in combination by the 

 stronger; in such degree will it resist the most violent attempts at 

 decomposition by the Voltaic pile , and so will' it, by this test, the 

 nearer assume the electro-chemical character of a simpM body. It 

 would he absurd, then, to calculate the simplicity of a, body, from 

 its inertness under the Voltaic agency. 



Not satisfied with the determinations of Sir H. Davy, and for- 

 cibly struck with the considerations which 1 had presumed tooppi e 

 to such authority, I ventured to hazard these views to the trial of 

 experiment, resolving to operate by methods different from those 

 hitherto adopted, If azote were a body containing a greater pro- 

 portion of positive atom- in its coro| Gsition, it appeared useless to 

 attempt its separatii . it to the action of bodies them- 



selves electro-positive ; nnd if it be supposed an oxide of ,hydrogen, 

 it seemed possible to produce azote from water by exposing the 

 latter to the action of a body possessing a power more strongly 

 tro-positive than is;. ; that is 10 say, one which would 



produce a new d; a of electrical forces without resolving 



them into simple and separate elements. Sulphureted hydrogen 

 seemed the body most likely to answer this desired object, as it 

 possessed so an affinity for oxygen under ail circumstances, 



being composed of bodies both strongly electro-positive. 1 therefore 

 determined on the trial of experiment with this test. The 6rst 

 results answered my fullest expectations. On passing water in the 

 state of vapour together with sulphureted hydrogen gas through 

 tubes of porcelain, I found, on repeated trials, azote produced in 

 abundance. 



. In all experiments prior to Jan, 5, 1812, 1 passed the sulphureted 

 hydrogen and aqueous vapour through Wedgewood's tubes; hut in 

 order to be certain that the azote was not introduced through the 

 pores of the porcelain, as was supposed in the experiments ot Gir*- 

 tanner, Priestley, and tiie Dutch chemists, I afterwards made use 

 of a copper tube without any soldering, accurately fitted into 

 conical ends of two bra-s cylinders leading to the other parts of the 

 apparatus. These conical fittings were perfectly air-tight, but tluy 

 were further secured bj a luting of borax and pipe-clay. The 

 copper tube was \x inch bore, and li) inches long. Each of the 

 brass tubes were 24 inches long, with a diameter ol one iach inter- 

 nally. The one tube had i:s other end secured by a stop-cock 

 connected with bladders, or the gazometer containing the recently 

 prepared gas. In the same tube oei r this was connected a metallic 

 vessel by means of a large stop-cock, so contrived that the' -team 

 issuing from the water kept boiling in that vessel might pass into 

 ;he room without entering the apparatus, or it might be let into the 



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