384 CARBONATES. 



an iron pot with an earthen head, communicating with a cold 

 receiver, usually a jug or bottle ; (the olive oil bottles, after being 

 cleansed, are commonly preferred ;) the carbonate of ammonia, pro- 

 duced from repeated charges of the materials, accumulates by de- 

 grees to a thick crust, and the bottles are then broken to extract it. 

 Sometimes lead receivers are employed, and then the crust is detach- 

 ed by repeated blows of a wooden hammer, applied to the outside.* 



3. PROPERTIES, of the salt of the shops. 



(#.) The crystals are so minute as to be indistinct ; they are said 

 to be octahedra with truncated apices. 



(b.) Volatile, and odorous ; smell and taste are like those of pure 

 ammonia, but weaker. The hartshorn smelling bottles, are lined with 

 this salt, whose odor is reviving, stimulating, and refreshing. 



Sc.) Has the usual alkaline action upon the test colors, 

 d.) Soluble at 60, in less than 2 parts of cold water ; and in one 

 of hot water. 



In boiling water volatilized, and also perhaps, decomposed, and 

 exhaled in gas and vapor, with brisk ebullition and a strong ammo- 

 niacal odor. 



(e.) The hot solution by rapid cooling, crystallizes. f 



(/.) Not altered by the air, but wastes rapidly away. 



(g.) Evaporates on a hot iron, without melting, being more vapor- 

 izable than fusible. Smelling bottles are easily made by heating 

 a portion of this salt in a flask, whose neck is prolonged by a tube, 

 covered by an inverted empty vial, in which the sublimed salt will 

 be condensed and form a crust or lining. 



4. ACTION OF THE PRECEDING BODIES. 



(a.) Nearly the same that has been stated with respect to the preced- 

 ing alkalies ; they and the alkaline earths attract its acid and liberate 

 the ammonia, while the acids attract the ammonia and liberate the 

 acid gas with effervescence ; if the acid is a fuming one, there is a 

 white cloud. 



(b.) No action on silica, alumina, or zirconia ; but dissolves gluci- 

 na readily. J 



(c.) By double affinity, decomposes various salts which ammonia 

 alone will not affect ; particularly the barytic, strontitic, and calcare- 

 ous, but the carbonic acid often holds suspended the earthy carbo- 

 nate, so that it does not precipitate till heat is applied, sometimes 

 even to ebullition. 



* Dr Murray's Lecture on Materia Medica, March 26, 1806. 

 t Bergman. Four. IV. 74. 



I It separates glucina from the other earths contained in the beryl and emerald ; 

 and by evaporation, it deposits the glucina. Four. IV. 75, and this work, p. 298. 



