ON NITROGEN AND AMMONIA. 



39 



into the discussion of the ideas entertained by the German ously asserted, 

 chemists on the origin of nitrogen, produced during the 

 passage of water through redhot tubes, or the speculations 

 of Girtanner, founded on these and other erroneous data; 

 the early discovery of Priestley on the passage of gasses 

 through redhot tubes of earthen ware, the accurate re- 

 searches of Berthollet, and the experiments of Bouillon 

 J^agrange, have afforded a complete solution of this pro- 

 blem. 



One of the most striking cases, in which nitrogen has Nitrogen sup- 

 been supposed to appear without the presence of any other P**'^^'^ ^o ap- 



u 4. * I- u I At. ' 1 •. pear in the da. 



matter but water, which can be conceived to supoly its composition 



elements, is in the decomposition and recomposltion of Wa- ^P^ recompo-. 

 ter by electricity*. To ascertain if nitrogen could be ge- bVel'ectridfy*'^ 

 nerated in this manner, I had an apparatus laiade, by which Experiment 

 a quantity of water could be acte(^ upon by Voltaic elec- t°^s^'°° ° 

 tricity, so as to produce oxigen and hidrogen wi h great 

 rapidity, and in which these gayses could be detonated, 

 without the exposure of the water to the atmosphere; so 

 that this fluid was in contact with platina, mercury, and 

 glass only; and the wires for completing the Voltaic and 

 common electrical circuit were hermetically inserted into 

 the tube. 500 double plates of the Voltaic combination 

 were used, in such activity that about the eighth of a cubi- 

 cal inch of the mixed gasses, upon an average, was pro- 

 duced from 20 to 30 times in every day. The water used 

 in this experiment was about half a cubic inch : it had been 

 carefully purged of air by the airpump and by boiling, and 

 liad been introduced into the tube, and secured from the 

 influence of the atmosphere while warm. After the first 

 detonation of the oxigen and hidrogen, which together 

 equalled about the eighth of a cubical inch, there was a 

 residuum of about ^V of the volume of the gasses; after 

 every detonation this residuum was found to increase ; and 

 when about 50 detonatioas had been made, it equalled 

 rather more than i of the volume of the water, i. e. \ of a 

 cubical inch. It was examined by the test of nitrous gas j- 



* See Dr. Pearson's elaborate experiments on the decomposition of 

 water by electrical explosions. Nicholson's Journal, 4to, vol. I, p. 501. 



it 



