244 CHEMICAL TRANSFORMATIONS 



charcoal for oxygen, and of chlorine for alu- 

 minium, are both put in action, although neither 

 of these alone has any influence upon it. There 

 is in the nature and constitution of the com- 

 pounds of nitrogen a kind of tension of their com- 

 ponent parts, and a strong disposition to yield to 

 transformations, which effect spontaneously the trans- 

 position of their atoms on the instant that water or 

 its elements are brought in contact with them. 



The characters of the hydrated cyanic acid, 

 one of the simplest of all the compounds of 

 nitrogen, are perhaps the best adapted to convey 

 a distinct idea of the manner in which the atoms 

 are disposed of in transformations. This acid con- 

 tains nitrogen, hydrogen, and oxygen, in such pro- 

 portions, that the addition of a certain quantity of 

 the elements of water is exactly sufficient to cause 

 the oxygen contained in the water and acid to 

 unite with the carbon and form carbonic acid, and 

 the hydrogen of the water to combine with the 

 nitrogen and form ammonia. The most favourable 

 conditions for a complete transformation are, 

 therefore, associated in these bodies, and it is 

 well known, that the disunion takes place on 

 the instant that the cyanic acid ,and water are 

 brought into contact, the mixture being converted 

 into carbonic acid and ammonia, with brisk effer- 

 vescence. 



This decomposition may be considered as the 

 type of the transformations of all azotised com- 



