112 OF THE INORGANIC 



be detected by our most sensible re-agents ; and 

 nevertheless the many hundred tons annually 

 brought from Italy as an article of commerce, are 

 procured by the uninterrupted accumulation of 

 this apparently inappreciable quantity. The hot 

 steam which issues from the interior of the earth is 

 allowed to pass through cold water in the lagoons of 

 Castel Nuova and Cherchiago ; in this way is the 

 boracic acid gradually accumulated, till at last it 

 may be obtained in crystals by the evaporation 

 of the water. It is evident, from the temperature 

 of the steam, that it must have come out of depths 

 in which human beings and animals never could 

 have lived, and yet it is very remarkable and highly 

 important that ammonia is never absent from it. In 

 the large works in Liverpool, where natural boracic 

 acid is converted into borax, many hundred pounds 

 of sulphate of ammonia are obtained at the same 

 time. 



This ammonia has not been produced by the 

 animal organism, it existed before the creation of 

 human beings; it is a part, a primary constituent, of 

 the globe itself. 



The experiments instituted under Lavoisier's 

 guidance by the Direction des poudres et salpetres, 

 have proved that during the evaporation of the 

 saltpetre ley, the salt volatilizes with the water, and 

 causes a loss which could not before be explained. 

 It is known also, that in sea storms, leaves of plants 

 in the direction of the wind are covered with 



