AMMONIA. 



AMMONIA. 



separates the ammonia, and thus renders Us 

 peculiar pungent smell sensible. The sensa- 

 tion which is perceived upon moistening the 

 hand with rain-water, so different from that 

 produced by pure distilled water, and to which 

 the term softness is vulgarly applied, is also 

 due to the carbonate of ammonia contained in 

 the former. A small quantity of ammonia 

 water, added to \vliat is commonly called hard 

 water, will give it the softness of rain or snow- 

 water. 



'The ammonia which is removed from the 

 atmosphere by rain and other causes, is as 

 constantly replaced by the putrefaction of ani- 

 mal and vegetable matters. A certain portion 

 of that which falls with the rain evaporates 

 again with the water, but another portion is, 

 we suppose, taken up by the roots of plants, 

 and, entering into new combinations in the 

 different organs of assimilation, produces al- 

 bumen, gluten, quinine, morphia, cyanogen, 

 and a number of other compounds containing 

 nitrogen. The chemical characters of ammo- 

 nia render it capable of entering into such 

 combinations, and of undergoing numerous 

 transformations. We have now only to con- 

 sider whether it really is taken up in the form 

 :ma by the roots of plants, and in that 

 form applied by their organs to the production 

 of the azotized matters contained in them. 

 This question is susceptible of easy solution 

 by well-known facts. 



"In the year 1834, I was engaged with Dr. 

 Wil brand, professor of botany in the univer- 

 sity of <Ji,--M'ii, in an investigation respecting 

 the quantity of sugar contained in the different 

 varieties of maple trees, which grew upon 

 soils which were not manured. We obtained 

 crystalli/ed sugars from all, by simply evapo- 

 rating their juices, without the addition of any 

 foreign substance ; and we unexpectedly made 

 the observation, that a great quantity of ammo- 

 nia was emitted from this juice, when mixed 

 with lime, and also from the sugar itself during 

 its refinement. Thg vessels, which hung upon 

 the trees in order to collect the juice, were 

 watched with greater attention, on account of 

 the suspicion that some evil-disposed persons 

 had introduced urine into them, but still a large 

 quantity of ammonia was again found in the 

 form of neutral salts. The juice had no colour, 

 and had no reaction on that of vegetables. 

 Similar observations were made upon the juice 

 of the birch-tree ; the specimens subjected to 

 experiment were taken from a wood several 

 miles distant from any house, and yet the clari- 

 fied juice, evaporate'd with lime, emitted a 

 strong odour of ammonia. 



" The products of the distillation of flowers, 

 herbs, and roots, with water, and all extracts 

 of plants made for medicinal purposes, contain 

 ammonia. The unripe, transparent, and gela- 

 tinous pulp of the almond and peach emit 

 much ammonia when treated with alkalies. 

 (Kobiqutt.} The juice of the fresh tobacco- 

 leaf contains ammoniacal salts. The water, 

 which exudes from a cut vine, when evapo- 

 rated with a few drops of muriatic acid, also 

 yields a gummy deliquescent mass, which 

 evolves much ammonia on the addition of 

 lime. Ammonia exists in every part of plants, 

 11 



in the roots (as in beet-root), in the stem (of 

 the maple-tree), and in all blossoms and fruit 

 in an unripe condition. 



" The juice of the maple and birch contain 



both sugar and ammonia, and therefore afford 



all the conditions necessary for the formation 



1 of the azotized components of the branches, 



! blossoms, and leaves, as well as of those which 



I contain no azote or nitrogen. In proportion as 



the developement of those parts advances, the 



ammonia diminishes in quantity, and when 



they are fully formed, the tree yields no more 



juice. 



" The employment of animal manure in the 

 cultivation of grain, and the vegetables which 

 serve for fodder to cattle, is the most convinc- 

 ing proof that the nitrogen of vegetables is 

 derived from ammonia. The quantity of gluten 

 in wheat, rye, and barley, is very different; 

 these kinds of grain also, even when ripe, con- 

 tain this compound of nitrogen in very differ- 

 ent proportions. Proust found French wheat 

 to contain 12-5 per cent, of gluten; Vogel 

 found that the Bavarian contained 24 per cent. ; 

 Davy obtained 19 per cent, from winter, and 

 24 from summer wheat; from Sicilian 21, and 

 from Barbary wheat 19 per cent. The meal 

 of Alsace wheat contains, according to Bous- 

 singault, 17-3 per cent, of gluten; that of 

 wheat grown in the " Jardin des Plantes" 26-7, 

 and that of winter wheat 3-33 per cent. Such 

 great differences must be owing to some cause, 

 and this we find in the different methods of 

 cultivation. An increase of animal manure 

 gives rise not only to an increase in the num- 

 ber of seeds, but also to a most remarkable 

 difference in the proportion of the gluten which 

 they contain. 



"Animal manure, as we shall afterwards 

 show, acts only by the formation of ammonia. 

 One hundred parts of wheat grown on a soil 

 manured with cow r dung (a manure containing 

 the smallest quantity of nitrogen), afforded 

 only 11-95 parts of gluten, and 64-34 parts of 

 amylin, or starch ; whilst the same quantity, 

 grown on a soil manured with human urine, 

 yielded the maximum of gluten, namely 35-1 

 per cent. Putrefied urine contains nitrogen in 

 the forms of carbonate, phosphate, and lactate 

 of ammonia, and in no other form than that of 

 ammoniacal salts. 



" Putrid urine is employed in Flanders as a 

 manure with the best results. During the 

 putrefaction of urine, ammoniacal salts are 

 formed in large quantity, it may be said exclu- 

 sively ; for, under the influence of heat and 

 moisture, urea, the most prominent ingredient 

 of the urine, is converted into carbonate of am- 

 monia. The barren soil on the coast of Peru 

 is rendered fertile by means of a manure called 

 Guano, which is collected from several islands 

 on the South Sea. It is sufficient to add a 

 small quantity of guano to a soil, which con- 

 sists only of sand and clay, in order to procure 

 the richest crops of maize. The soil itself 

 does not contain the smallest particle of or- 

 ganic matter, and the manure employed is 

 formed only of urate, phosphate, ozalate, and 

 carbonate of ammonia, together WJ* fe ^ 

 earthy salts. (Boussingault, Ann. de Chim. et 

 cfe PAy*. t. Ixv. p. 319.) 



