£6g ANALYSIS OF KEUTRAL SALTS. 



/. II substances, water, which contain 20 parts of oxioen. It appears then, 

 that combine that this vule may be applied to every o'her substance, mi- 

 acd, contain a "^ral, vegetable, or animal, which forms with acids a mark- 

 ?ivei) quantity ed or neutral" cniij pound ; for instance, the matter of the 

 ° ' bile, albumen, and several colouring matters^ In short, 

 this law may be extended to all the acids, and every sub- 

 stance in any way capable of saturating them. 

 Composition cf To ascertain the composition of water 1 employed dis- 

 "iaier. tilled iinc and sulphuric acid. The decomposition was 



performed in an apparatus accurately weighed ; and the hi- 

 drogen gas was transmitted through a tube filled with 

 muriate of lime.. 200 parts of zinc yielded 248'8 of oxide, 

 and evolved Q'5 of hidrogen gas. According to this expe- 

 riment water is composed of 11'75 hidrogen and 88*25 

 oxigen ; which agrees exactly with the experiments of 

 Messrs. Biot and Arago. On dissolving a quantity of sul- 

 piiuret of iron at a minimum in muriatic acid, I received 

 ti»e sulphuretted hidrogen gas in a caustic lixivium, by 

 xvhicb it was entirely absorbed. Hence it follows, that^the 

 sulphur, which saturates 100 parts of hidrogen, must be to 

 tl)e oxigen, that saturates the same portion, in the same 

 ratio as the sulphur is to the oxigen with which 100 parts of 

 Suli luiretferi iron are saturated. The quantity of oxigen that saturates 

 hidrogen gas. j^^ ^^^^^ ^j- Jij^jrogen being 750'77, the quantity of sulphur 

 must be 1501-54, and sulphuretted hidrogen gas is com- 

 posed of 6-243 hidrogen and 93'756 sulphur. 

 romposition After all these experiments I thought, that a calculation 

 af ammoniia. of the composition of ammonia might aflPord a result, that 

 would at least approach the truth. Accordingly I analysed 

 the muriate of ammonia, and found it to be composed of 

 49-46 muriatic acid, 31"95 ammonia, and 18*59 water of 

 crystallization. Consequently 100 parts of acid are satu- 

 rated by 64-6 of ammonia. From analogy with the other 

 alkalis this quantity must contain 30*49 of oxigen : and 

 hence it follows, that ammonia is composed of 47-2 oxigen 

 and 52*8 metallic base. 



It was to be presumed, that a salifiable base would deter- 

 mine in some measure the quantity of oxigen in the acid 

 required for its saturation ; but this proportion was not so 

 easy to find as that between the acid and oxigen in the base. 



I was 



