ON NITROGEN AND AMMONIA. - ^^ 



occasion, and from some that I shall detail toward the con- 

 clusion of this lecture, contains a volume of hidrogeii equal 

 to its own. But one of hidrogen demands half its volume 

 of oxigen to convert it into water, and nitrous gas consists 

 of about half a part in volume of oxigen; so that, supposing 

 the whole of the hidrogen employed in absorbing oxigen 

 from nitrous gas, nitrogen alone ought to be formed, and 

 not nitrous oxide. Or, if the whole of the gas is nitrous 

 oxide, this should contain all the nitrogen of the nitrous 

 gas, leaving none to be supplied to the ammonia, I mixed Experiment., 

 together five cubical inches of nitrous gas, and five of sul- 

 phuretted hidrogen over mercury, the barometer being at 

 29*5'"', thermometer at 51° Fahrenheit; twelve hours had 

 elapsed before any change was perceived ; there was then a 

 whitish precipitate formed, and a deep yellow liquid began 

 to appear in drops, on the inside of the jar, and the volume 

 of the gasses quickly diminished ; after two days the dimi- 

 nution ceased ; iind the volume became stationary ; the ba- 

 rometer was at 30'45'*', and thermometer 52° Fahrenheit; 

 when it equalled 2*3. The gas proved to be about \ ni- Resuk&. 

 trous oxide, and the remaining fourth was inflammable. 

 An experiment was made expressly to determine the nature 

 of the deep yellow liquid in the jar. It proved to be of 

 the same kind as Boyle's fuming liquor, the hydrosuJphuret 

 of ammonia, but with sulphur in great excess. 



In this experiment there was evidently no formation of 

 nitrogen, and these complicated changes ended in the pro- 

 duction of tvyo new compounds: nitrogen, hidrogen, oxi- 

 gen, and sulphur combining to form one ; and a part of the 

 nitrogen and oxigen becoming more condensed, to fornn 

 another. 



Having stated the results of the investigation on the pro- Attempts to 



duction of nitrous acid and of ammonia, in various pro- '^'^'^""'"l''*^'^ "*" 



„ , . TT . ., . tiogeii, 



cesses ot chemistry, I shall notice some attempts that I 



made to decompose nitrogen, by agents which I conceived 



might act at the same time on oxigen, and on the basis of 



liitrogen. Potassium, as 1 have before stated, sublimtS in 



nitrogen, without altering it, or being itself changed; but 



1 thought it possible, that the case might be different, if 



this powerful agent were made to act upon nitrogen, assisted 



by 



