of the State of Neio Yorlc. 



269 



No. 1. Ts the result of the analysis of Vauquelin made about 1802. 



No. 2. A specimen received from an Inspector at Albany and 

 marked as " first sort, but not of the best quality." 



No. 3. Supposed to have been made according to the original 

 patent of Ephraim Pearce, {Franklin Journal Vol. 9,) in which lime 

 and salt were employed. — It was nearly white with a pearly lustre. 



No. 4. From the same parcel as the last, but of a darker color, 

 the average per cent of carbonated alkaU in the two specimens ' 

 is 76.4. 



No. 5. Received from an Inspector and labelled " made partly 

 on the patent plan" — color whitish. 



No. 6. Another specimen of the same kind as No. 5, but of a 

 darker color. The average per cent of carbonated alkali is 75.8. 



No. 7. A specimen of a beautiful reddish color which had been 

 condemned by the Inspector at New York and labelled " highly 

 salted." A large proportion of the one hundred and sixty four 

 grains consisted of common salt, which had apparently undergone no 

 change. Although the insoluble residuum was much less than in 

 No. 2, the total amount of impurites was more than fifty per cent. 

 This is an instructive lesson, to those who have been deceived by the 

 notion expressed in the first patent, that the salt is " burnt up." 



Having now determined, with what I conceivedto be a sufficient 

 degree of accuracy, the nature and proportions of the impurities 

 contained in the above, I dissolved three other specimens in water, 

 and to the filtered solutions added nitric acid of known specific gravi- 

 ty, until the alkali was completely saturated, according to the ordi- 

 nary chemical method of ascertaining the value of samples of pot- 

 ash or soda. The following are the results. 



2^able of the composition of specimens of Potash determined by 

 solution in water and saturation by nitric acid.* 



No. 8. Was common potash, " second sort" from New York. No's 

 9 and 10 were from Albany, but the mode of manufacture was not 

 certainly known. 



* This proce.ss is perhaps open to the objection stated in the concluding part 

 of this paper. 



