26* 



ACTION OP NITRIC ACID ON INDIGO. 



It remains for farther experiments to show, whether it be 



possible to separate the nitric acid from these substances, 



without employing the assistance of heat; and whether 



the amer at a minimum be not a compound of araer at a 



maximum, already formed, with an oily or resinous 



matter. 



I intend to subject these substances to the action of the 



voltaic pile as soon as leisure wiil permit me. 



The detonating 38. Mr. Welther, in his paper on araer, considered the 



iubstance not a detonating substance it forms with potash as a compound of 



compound of . '^ 



amer and nitre, nitrate of potash and amer. This opinion was founded on 



the following experiment, which is very accurate. He took 



crystallized amer, mixed it with nitrate of potash, evapo- 



tVelther's view 

 of it different 

 from the au- 

 tbar's. 



Morctti's new 

 acid nothing 

 Vut amer. 



shown above, that the detonating substance is formed with 

 muriate of potash, as well as with nitre; and that conse- 

 quently the acid of the nitre had no influence in the pro- 

 duction of the detonating substance. 



This experiment shows at the same time the difference 

 there is between the view I have taken of amer in the course 

 of this paper, and that of Mr. Welther, in his experiments 

 on silk. In all the experiments I have described, it may 

 have been observed, that the amer did not yield its nitric 

 acid to any substance, that it acted on the bases by a re- 

 sulting affinity, and that consequently nitric acid was a prin- 

 ciple necessary to its existence; while Mr. Welther consider, 

 ed amer as a substance sui generis f which became detonaUng 

 only by combining with nitrate of potash. 



39. The new acid, which Mr. Moretti speaks of having 

 obtained by distilling indigo with nitric acid (7), appears 

 to be nothing but amer at a maximum ; at least the propertio* 

 he ascribes to it belong to the latter compound. 



VII. Analysk 



