248 EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATIONS, 



which solidification, and also while in its solid state, it under- 

 went no chemical change. He subsequently attempted to 

 procure a permanent compound by electrolysing a solution of 

 hydrochlorate of ammonia with an extremely fusible alloy at 

 the cathode ; but this attempt was unsuccessful. It then 

 occurred to him, that by using an oxidable metal at the anode, 

 which could be revived in conjunction with nascent hydrogen 

 and nitrogen at the cathode, one or both of these elements 

 might be combined with the solid metal and so form perma- 

 nent compounds. 



The experiment made in this manner with the metals zinc, 

 cadmium, and copper was perfectly successful. A spongy 

 mass collected at the cathode, which floated upon the liquid, 

 and which, when washed and dried, was analysed by heating 

 in a tube retort ; five grains of the zinc compound gave 073 

 of a cubic inch of permanent gas, which on examination 

 proved to be nitrogen with one-fourth hydrogen. The same 

 quantity of the cadmium compound gave 0*207 cubic inch of 

 nitrogen, with no admixture of hydrogen. A like weight of 

 the copper compound gave 0*107 of nitrogen. No ammonia 

 was evolved from either ; and the author is inclined to think 

 that the hydrogen yielded by the zinc compound resulted from 

 the reaction of the metal upon combined water. The specific 

 gravity of specimens of these substances which the author 

 tried were respectively 4, 6, 4, 8 and 5, 9. A mixed solution 

 of chloride of gold and hydrochlorate of ammonia, electro- 

 lysed with platinum electrodes, gave a black powder of the 

 specific gravity 10*3, five grains of which, being heated, gave 

 only 0*05 cubic inch of gas. The author proceeds to observe, 

 that the similarity in appearance and mode of formation of 

 these compounds and of the mercurio-ammoniacal amalgam 

 is strong evidence of identity of constitution, and that the 

 non-permanence of the latter substance is due to the mobility 

 of the mercury ; for if we place the compounds in similar 

 circumstances, that is, solidify the mercurial one, or liquefy 

 those of the other metals, the phenomena are perfectly analo- 

 gous. The experiments also bear immediately upon those of 

 Thenard, Savart, and others, where ammonia, passed over 

 Jieated metals, was found to be decomposed more completely 



