Chemical Powers of Ammoniacal Salts^^ 255 



states, and the traveller who is intimately acquainted with ancient 

 history, sees in every plain and upon every height, objects of the 

 highest interest to him, though they may be passed by as unimpor- 

 tant by another. The vestiges of Mycenas, the residence of the 

 "king of men," which are close at hand, and which I visit often, 

 are wonderful from their extent, from the enormous size of the 

 blocks of stones of which the walls are composed, and from their al- 

 most perfect state of preservation : you enter the Acropolis through 

 the "gate of the lions," which are still in their place, and you gaze 

 with feelings of inexpressible interest on the walls, the piles of ruins, 

 and the immense heaps of stones which mark so distinctly the resi- 

 dence of Agamemnon, that it would seem but a century since he had 

 left it, and not thousands of years. 



Art. VI. — Upon the solvent and oxidating powers of Ammoniacal 

 Salts, &fc.; by Prof. John P. Emmet, of the Univ. of Virginia. 



The muriate of ammonia has its composition well determined, it 

 is strictly neutral, as far as one atom of acid and one of base can ef- 

 fect such a condition, and yet, as is well known, it strongly reddens 

 litmus. Moreover, it is supposed to undergo no decomposition when 

 sublimed (which requires a temperature a little below redness,) and, 

 when prepared for commercial purposes, it generally results from the 

 mutual decomposition of two neutral salts — sulphate of ammonia 

 and common salt. How, therefore, are we to account for its acid- 

 ity? 



Feeling desirous of investigating the circumstances, I subjected 

 several of the ammoniacal salts to a series of experiments which tend 

 to prove that this property, instead of being peculiar to sal ammoniac, 

 is almost characteristic of the genus of simple ammoniacal salts, the 

 principal exception being the carbonate. The investigation has fur- 

 ther led me to discover a method of converting such salts into chem- 

 ical agents, as powerful as the uncombined mineral acids. 



Muriate of ammonia appears to acquire its acidity by exposure to 

 air and moisture for it was found, upon trial, that heating the salt to 

 its subliming point rendered it perfectly neutral, or at all events, lit- 

 mus could then be mixed with its solution in cold water, without be- 

 coming red. Boiling water restored the acidity and this result was 

 accompanied by the liberation of some of the base. 



