Dr. Smith oji the Composition of Spermaceti. 309 



alcohol, which dissolved the soda salt and not the carbonate of 

 soda ; from this the alcoholic solution was separated by filtration, 

 and this last, evaporated to dryness, furnished the salt perfectly 

 pure. 



Silver Salt. — This salt was formed by a double decomposition 

 of the salt just described and nitrate of silver. The soda was 

 dissolved in water, and to this was added a solution of nitrate of 

 silver, which produced a white flocculent precipitate, the salt in 

 question. This precipitate was thrown on a filter and well wash- 

 ed with warm distilled water, and dried at 212° in the dark. 



This silver salt, when burnt in a porcelain crucible, gave the 

 following results. 



Exp. 1. 0.332 gram, silver salt gave 0.098 gram, silver. 

 " 2. 0.389 " " " 0.117 " " 



" 3. 0.5765 " " " 0.1705 " " 



Out of these the following per centage of silver and oxide of 

 silver in the salt was calculated. 



Exp. 1. 29.56 silver, 31.75 oxide of silver. 



" 2. 29.39 " 31.57 " " 



" 3. 29.59 " 31.77 " " 



From the same analyses the atomic weight of the anhydrous 

 acid was calculated to be, from 



Exp. 1 . 250.00 } 

 " 2. 251.52 V Mean, . . . 250.24 

 " 3. 249.36 ) 



The silver salt was now analyzed with bioxide of copper, to 

 ascertain the quantity of carbon and hydrogen that it contained. 



1. 0.4735 gram, silver salt burnt with the bioxide of copper, 

 gave 0.910 gram, carbonic acid, and 0.3595 gram, water. 



2. 0.483 gram, silver salt burnt with the bioxide of copper, 

 gave 0.934 gram, carbonic acid and 0.3705 gram, water. 



From these analyses we find in 100 parts of the salt — 



100.00 100.00 100.00 



