62 



CHEMISTRY, GEOLOGY 



Fig. 19. 



and hold it over the 

 mouth of a bottle con- 

 taining hartshorn, or a 

 strong smelling-bottle ; 

 the white fumes will be 

 seen, showing that am- 

 monia, as a gas, is 

 escaping. These white 

 fumes are the ammonia 

 (an alkali) combining 

 with the vinegar (acetic 



acid). The white fumes will be more abundant 

 if a glass rod, dipped into muriatic acid, be used. 

 Ammonia is composed of two gases, nitrogen 

 and hydrogen. Fourteen pounds of nitrogen and 

 three pounds of hydrogen make seventeen pounds 

 of ammonia. 



The ammonia contained in manure is dissolved 

 by the water contained in the soil, and it is then 

 taken up by the roots of the plants. In the 

 plant, it aids in the formation of gluten, and 

 other portions of its substance containing ni- 

 trogen. 



Questions. Of what is ammonia composed ? In what 

 proportions ? How do plants obtain the ammonia from the 

 soil ? Of what use is ammonia in the plant ? 



