324 ON THE MURIATIC ACID IN ITS DIFFERENT STATE?. 



but found, to my great surprise, that it was not at all. 

 Tolatile or decomposable at this degree of hcatj and that 

 it gave off no gaseous matter. 



The circumstance, that a substance composed princi- 

 pally of oximuriatic acid and amnionia should resist de- 

 composition or change at so high a temperature, induced 

 roe to pay particular attention to the properties of thisnevr 

 body. 

 Properties of It had no taste nor smell ; it did not seem to be soluble, 



this compound. jjQj. ^jj^j j^. upfjergo any perceptible change when digested 

 in boiling water ; it did not appear to be acted upon by sul- 

 phuric, muriatic, or nitric acids, nor by a strong lixivium 

 bf potash. The only processes by which it seemed sus- 

 ceptible of decomposition were combustion, and the ac- 

 tion of ignited hidrat of potash. When brought into the 

 flame of a spirit lamp, and made red-hot, it gave feeble in- 

 dications of inflammation, and tinged the flame of a yellow 

 colour, and left a fixed acid, having the properties of phos- 

 phoric acid. When acted on by red-hot hidrat of potash, 

 it emitted a smell of ammonia, burnt where it was in con- 

 tact with air, and appeared to dissolve in the alkali. The 

 potash which had been so acted upon gave muriatic acid, by 

 the addition of sulphuric acid. 



I heated some of the powder to whiteness, in a tube of 



platina; but it did not appear to alter; and after ignition 



gave ammonia by the action of fused hidrat of potash. 



Ammonia does I caused ammonia, made as dry as possible, to act on 



not decompose (},£ phosphuretted liquor of Messrs. Gay-Lussac and 



or sulphuretted Thenard ; and on the sulphuretted muriatic liquor of Dr. 



muriatic acid, Thompson ; but no decomposition took place ; nor was 



but forms new . - • j- j i 



compounds ^^"7 muriate 01 ammonia lormed when proper precautions 



with them. were taken to exclude moisture. The results were new 

 combinations; that from the phosphuretted liquor was 

 a white solid, from which a part of the phosphorus was 

 separated by heat, but which seemed no farther decom- 

 posable, even by ignition. That from the sulphuretted 

 liquor was likewise solid, and had various shades of colour, 

 from a bright purple to a golden yellow, according as it 

 was more or less saturated with ammonia. But as these 

 <;ompoiinds did not present the same uniform and interest- 

 ing 



