3T2 ON THE DECOMPOSITtON OF THE tARTH5. 



tact with ba- zellus of Stockholm, in which he informed me, that, ift 

 rytes and lime, conjunction w^ Dr. Poutin, 4*16 had succeeded in decom- 

 posing baryte^md lime, by negatively electrifying mercury 

 in contact with them, and that in this way he had obtained 

 amalgams of the metals of these earths. 

 This repeated I immediately repated these operations with perfect suc- 

 WK isuccjbs. ^^gg . ^ globule of mercury, electrified by the power of the 

 batftry of 500, weakly charged, was made to act upon a 

 surface of slightly moistened barytcs, fixed upon a plate of 

 platina. The mercury gradually became less fluid, and 

 after a few minutes was found covered with a white film of 

 barytcs ; and when the amalgam was thrown into water, 

 hidrogen was disengaged, the mercury remained free, and 

 a solution of barytes was formed. 



The result with lime, as these gentlemen had stated, was 

 precisely analogous. 

 The same tried That the same happy methods must succeed wi*h stron- 



withstrontia ^j^^g ^^^^ magnesia, it was not easy to doubt, and I quickly 

 and magnesia. o » j j x j 



tried the experiment. 



From strontites I obtained a very rapid result; but from 

 magnesia, in the first trials, no amalgam could be procured. 

 By continuing the process however for a longer time, and 

 keeping the earth continually moist, at last a combination 

 of the basis with mercury was obtained, which slowly pro- 

 duced magnesia by absorption of oxigen from air, or by the 

 action of water. 

 The amalgams All these amalgams I found might be preserved for a con- 



nii^ht be pre- uijerable period under naphtha. In a length of time, how- 

 served some ^ J . 1 , . . 

 tinjc under ever, t^ey became covered with a white crust under this 



naphtha. fluid. When exposed to air, a very few minutes only were 



required for the oxigenati^n of the bases of the earths. la 

 water the amalgam of barytes was most rapidly decora, 

 posed: that of strontites and that of lime next in order: 

 but the amalgam from magnesia, as might be expected from 

 the weak affinity of the earth for water, very slowly 

 changed ; when a little sulphuric acid was added to the 

 water, however, the evolution of hidrogen, and the pro- 

 duction and solution of magnesia were exceedingly rapid, 

 and the mercury soon remained free. 



^nl|rhs,icof I was inclined to believe, that one reason why magnesia 



wa* 



