ALKALIES, 233 



The more highly water is impregnated with ammonia, the lighter 

 it is,* as appears from the following table of Sir H. Davy, in which 

 the proportions are by weight. 



Sp. gr. Ammonia. Water. 



0.8750 32.50 67.50 



0.8875 - - 29.25 - - 70.75 



0.9000 26.00 74.00 



0.9054 - - 25.37 - - 74.63 



0.9166 22.67 77.93 



0.9255 - - 19.54 - - 80.46 



0.9326 17.52 82.48 



0.9385 - - 15.88 - - 84.12 



0.9435 14.53 - 85.47 



0.9476 13.46 - - 86.54 



9.9513 12.40 87.60 



0.9545 - - 11.56 - 88.44 



0.9573 10.82 89.18 



0.9597 - 10.17 - - 89.83 



0.9619 9.60 90.40 



0.9692 - 9.50 - - 90.50 



Dr. Uref has given another table ; he thinks the numbers in Sir H. 

 Davy's too high by about 1 per cent. A vial containing 224 grains 

 of distilled water, will contain only 216 grains of strong aqua am- 

 moniae. 



(e.) Alcohol can be impregnated in the same manner, and it may 

 be done at the same time, in a separate bottle of the apparatus. 



(/.) Jlmmoniacal gas extinguishes flame, but burns slightly ; very 

 evidently, if taken in quantities not less than a pint, and having at 

 the same time access to the air, when it burns as it rises, with a 

 a voluminous yellow flameff If it were collected in large jars, in 

 the manner already described, 3. (a.), it would doubtless burn with 

 a flame still more conspicuous. 



(g.) If introduced into oxygen gas, in the form of a jet, it 

 burns, and the products are water and nitrogen gas ; the hydrogen 

 uniting with the oxygen, and leaving the nitrogen behind. 



6. ANALYSIS, COMPOSITION, AND PROPORTION OF ELEMENTS. 



(a.) By the electric spark, passed through the gas, standing in a 

 detonating tube, over mercury. It requires two or three hundred 

 discharges to effect the decomposition. 



* The same fact is observed in the solutions of its salts. t Diet. 24 Ed. p. 142. 

 t Am. Jour. Vol. VI, p. 185. 



