AZOTIC GAS. 



salts produced any effect, if we except an almost 

 imperceptible opalescence which appeared when 

 the common salt was added ; but there was no 

 precipitate whatever, even after the liquid had 

 stood a week. From this experiment it is obvi- 

 ous, that 6*75 grains of sal-ammoniac contain 

 just 4 625 grains of muriatic acid ; for that is 

 the quantity necessary to saturate the 14*75 

 grains of oxide of silver present in 21*5 grains of 

 nitrate of silver. Hence the other constituent 

 of the salt, the ammonia, must weigh 2*125, be- 

 cause that is the weight wanting to make up the 

 full quantity of sal-ammoniac employed ; and, 

 as sal-ammoniac is neutral, and 4*625 the atomic 

 weight of muriatic acid, 2*125 must be the atomic 

 weight of ammonia. 



3. 13*5 grains of dry sal*ammoniac were wrap- Analysis of 

 ped up in blotting paper, and dropped into a re- 

 tort filled with dichloride of lime, (Mr. Tennant's 

 bleaching powder,) made into a thin paste with 

 water. The whole retort and beak was then 

 filled with water, and the beak of the retort was 

 plunged into a water trough, under an inverted 

 graduated jar, filled with water. As soon as the 

 paper round the sal-ammoniac was sufficiently 

 softened to allow the dichloride to come in con- 

 tact with the salt, an effervescence took place, 

 and azotic gas was disengaged. This is just the 

 effect always produced when chlorine and am- 

 moniacal gas come in contact. The lime which 



VOL. I. I 



