I 



1 



on the Ammonia-cohalt Bases, 101 



while the secondary radicals are 



5NH3 . C02O 



NOrsNHrTCoaO. 



The oxyds on this view are 



6XlI3.C02O.O3 



K02^5XIlCCo20 . O2 



and are consequently of the form RO2, so that their biacid char- 

 acter is explained. The doctrine of polyacid bases is by no 

 means new ; it is in fact contained in the empirical law above 

 < referred to, that there are in neutral salts as many equivalents 



» of acid as there are of oxygen in the base, bearing in mind, 



^ however, that the oxygen in the base must be outside of the 



radical. The ammonia-cobalt bases like the conjugate metals 

 produced by the union of ethyl, methyl, &c., with antimony, 

 arsenic, and bismuth, serve, however, to place the doctrine of 

 polyacid bases upon the same footing as that of the polybasic 

 I acids, so that the two theories are in this way complementary to 



each other. From this point of view it is interesting to remarkj 

 ' that the chlorplatinates and double cyanids of the ammonia- 



* cobalt bases follow the same law as the oxvcen salts, thus we 



►^ have 



6XIl3.Co2Cl34^3PtCb 



5X113. C02Cl.Cl2+2PtCl2 



NO2 . 5NH3 . C02O . CI2 -I- 2PtCh 



6X113 . CoaCys + CoiCys 

 NO2 . 6XH3 . C02O . Cy2-f FeCy. 



In point of fact, the presence of but two equivalents of bi- 

 chlorid of platinum in the chlorplatinate of Purpureocobalt first 

 led us to suspect that the true oxj^gen salts of this base would 

 be found to contain but two equivalents of acid. 



Two other points require special notice in this connection. 

 We have already shown that the oxyd of Purpureocobalt, in at 



least two cases, 



/ 



acid so as to form feebly acid salts. We consider these salts the 

 true bi-salts of the basCj and not as double salts of Purpureoco- 

 balt and water. In other words, we hold that they bear the 

 same relation to the neutral salts of the base which bichromate 

 of potash does to the neutral chromate. If this view be correct, 

 9 Yie may perhaps expect to find salts of Eoseocobalt or Luteoco- 



six equivalents of acid. The onlv acid salt of 



Luteocobalt hitherto discovered is the carbonate, but this in re- 



our 



has the formula 



6NH3.C02O3, 3002+20, CO^. 



