340 EARTHS PROPER. 



I shall now relate the experiments which I 

 made to determine the saturating power of zir- 

 conia, and the quantity of water with which it is 

 capable of combining. 



(*') ^ quantity of pure carbonate of zirconia 

 atom of zir- was dissolved in muriatic acid, the solution was 



conia = f>. . . 



precipitated by ammonia, and the earth, after 

 being well washed, was left for several weeks 

 upon the filter in a temperature, which, during 

 the day, was very nearly 85 ; though it was a 

 good deal lower during the night. The hydrate 

 thus obtained had a greyish yellow colour, a 

 certain degree of semitransparency, and broke 

 with a fracture resembling that of glue. It was 

 exposed to a strong red heat for nearly an hour, 

 in order to drive off the water. I found that this 

 hydrate was a compound of 



Zirconia ... 6 

 Water . . . 8-885 



Now, 8*885 differs very little from 9, which re- 

 presents the weight of 8 atoms of water. This 

 leads to the inference, that the atomic weight of 

 zirconia is 6, and that the hydrate was a com- 

 pound of 1 atom zirconia and 8 atoms water. 



(2.) Another quantity of zirconia, precipitated 

 from the muriate, was well edulcorated and dried 

 on the filter by means of steam, at the tempera- 

 ture of 212. The hydrate thus obtained was 

 decomposed in a strong red heat, and was found 

 to be composed of 



