CHEMISTRY. 



85 



plunged beneath the surface of water. A red 

 glow was seen ; and, as the nascent hydrogen 

 came into contact with the phosphorus, hub- 

 bies of phosphide of hydrogen were formed. 

 Occasionally one would inflame as it came in 

 contact with the atmosphere, placing the na.- 

 ture of the reaction beyond doubt. As phos- 

 phide of hydrogen cannot be formed by direct 

 synthesis if ordinary free hydrogen be em- 

 ployed, this becomes a test for the presence of 

 that gas in a free state. Hydrogen escaping 

 from an ammoniacal amalgam was now tested 

 by this process. A sodium amalgam dipped 

 beneath a solution of chloride of ammonium 

 was employed, and it became necessary to wait 

 until "the sodium was exhausted, that the re- 

 sult might not be vitiated by the nascent hy- 

 drogen escaping from the water. At the 

 proper time the decomposing amalgam was 

 covered with fragments of transparent phos- 

 phorus, when many bubbles of inflammable 

 phosphide of hydrogen were obtained. The 

 hydrogen must therefore have been in the 

 nascent state, and just escaping from the am- 

 monium. 



Dr. Gallatin then proceeded to ascertain 

 whether an alloy could be effected between 

 ammonium and bismuth. He melted some 

 bismuth in a porcelain dish and alloyed it with 

 sodium by dropping a piece of that metal on 

 the clear surface of the melted bismuth. Chlo- 

 ride of ammonium was then dusted on the fluid 

 alloy, and water added in a fine, quick stream. 

 The bismuth swelled, appeared pasty and po- 

 rous, and then congealed, an abundance of hy- 

 drogen escaping at the time, and the ammonia- 

 cal odor being set free. The remaining sub- 

 stance was then dried. If placed near the ear, 

 a distinct crackling sound was heard a phe- 

 nomenon which lasted several days. To ascer- 

 tain if this was ammonium escaping from the 

 bismuth, the body was placed beneath water, 

 when bubbles of hydrogen escaped, easily col- 

 lected and recognized. A variety of tests 

 showed this to be nascent hydrogen, thereby 

 demonstrating that there had been a true alloy 

 between the metals ammonium and bismuth. 

 The temperature of the alloy being raised, it 

 rapidly decomposed with a crackling noise 

 and on one occasion exploded sharply, scatter- 

 ing the metal. Some of the superficial differ- 

 ences between an ammonium amalgam and an 

 alloy of ammonium with bismuth is this: that 

 in the former pores may be seen, produced by 

 the escaping ammonium long after the water 

 has exhausted the sodium, but those pores are 

 evanescent ; while in the latter the same pores, 

 produced by the same cause, remain, and may 

 be examined at leisure. 



The American Journal of Science for May 

 gives ^ the following statement of interesting 

 experiments upon the ammonium-amalgam, 

 made by Landolt, and reported in detail in the 

 Ann. Chem. Pharm. : 



It {the ammonium-amalgam) was prepared from a 

 solution of ammonic chloride by electrolysis in the or- 



dinary way, the negative electrode being connected 

 with mercury contained in a porous cup filled with 

 the ammoniacal liquid, while the positive electrode 

 dipped into mercury in an outer glass vessel, also filled 

 with the solution of chloride of ammonium. When 

 the current from 6 to 10 Grove's cells was employed, 

 the positive electrode became covered with a layer 

 of calomel, while the mercury in contact with the 

 negative electrode slowly increased in bulk, evolving 

 no gas until the point of saturation was reached. 

 Landolt first determined the ratio of the ammonia 

 gas evolved to the hydrogen, by placing the amalgam 

 in dilute hydrochloric acid of known strength, and 

 measuring the hydrogen evolved. The ammonia 

 was then calculated from the quantity of the acid 

 which it saturated. To free the amalgam from the 

 ammonia contained in the solution, it was washed 

 with water ; but, as the decomposition continued and 

 only the hydrogen escaped, it was evident that the 

 ammonia thus retained must give too high a result. 

 The first experiment gave 1:2.15 as^the ratio be- 

 tween the hydrogen and the ammonia by volume. 

 The second in which the amalgam was less quickly 

 placed in the acid gave the ratio 1 : 2.4. These re- 

 sults, which entirely confirm those of Davy, estab- 

 lish, as Landolt believes, the conclusion that the 

 compound NH 4 is taken up as a whole by the mer- 

 cury. This is proved by the above ratio, because, 

 were the gases separately absorbed, they would be 

 set free again in very different proportions. In the 

 second place, Landolt attempted a determination of 

 the amount of the ammonium thus combined with 

 the mercury. The amalgam was placed in a stand- 

 ard dilute hydrochloric acid as before ; the ammo- 

 nium was calculated from the quantity of acid neu- 

 tralized, and the mercury was determined by collect- 

 ing and weighing it. The results varied from .054 to 

 .090 per cent, of NH 4 , owing to the rapid decompo- 

 sition which took place. Evidently the maximum 

 result is nearest the truth ; and, if 100 parts of mer- 

 cury take up 0.09 parts of NH 4 , the amalgam in de- 

 composing should yield for each volume of mercury 

 15.2 volumes ammonia and 7.6 volumes hydrogen'; 

 numbers which hold good for the compound pre- 

 pared at ordinary temperatures. On the metallic 

 nature of ammonium, too, Landolt made some ex- 

 periments. Starting with the well-known fact that 

 potassium or sodium-amalgam will throw down most 

 metals from solutions of their salts, he argues that 

 the ammonium-amalgam, if analogous, should do the 

 same. Freshly-prepared ammonium-amalgam was 

 placed in the metallic solution, the separated mercury 

 was washed with water, dissolved in nitric acid and 

 examined for the metal whose solution had been 

 used. The result with cupric sulphate, argentic ni- 

 trate, and ferric chloride solutions was entirely nega- 

 tive, though at least 100 grammes of the amalgam 

 were employed. While, therefore, NH 4 combines as 

 such with the mercury, its metallic character is 

 doubtful ; further researches only can decide its 

 nature. 



Jargonium, anew Element. Mr. H. C. Sorby, 

 in his researches into the constitution of zircons, 

 discovered, in a variety of that mineral known 

 as the Ceylon jargon, evidences of a new sub- 

 stance, which he has called Jargonium. He 

 describes the spectrum of it as most remark- 

 able. He says : " It is quite unlike any thing 

 previously seen. It contains about a dozen 

 absorption bands, which are not mere shades, 

 like what is generally seen in solid bodies, but 

 in narrow, perfectly black Ijnes, like those seen 

 in the spectra of colored gases. It is not due 

 to zirconia, because some zircons show no trace 

 of such a spectrum. As far as I can make out, 

 the lines are not due to any substance known to 

 produce absorption bands. So far, it is a com- 



