ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. 



C1X 



tained by heating borax and ferrocyanide of potassinm (both anhy- 

 drous) to a dull red heat in a crucible ; and this, being fused with 

 caustic potash, gave out ammonia copiously, or, if heated in a current 

 of steam to a moderate red heat, was entirely converted into boracic 

 acid and ammonia. These experiments unquestionably explain the 

 simultaneous presence of boracic acid and ammonia in volcanic craters, 

 considering that nitride of boron had been previously formed in the 

 interior of the volcanic vent, and then brought into contact with either 

 alkaline bases under a high temperature, or with heated steam. The 

 same may be said in respect to the reactions consequent on the for- 

 mation of nitride of titanium, or of the nitride of any other metal 

 within the volcanic vent. All these reactions are natural in their 

 way, consistent with the circumstances of volcanic action, and con- 

 firmatory of Dr. Daubeny's views. 



Admitting, then, the reasonableness of Dr. Daubeny's views, and 

 those of Mr. "Warington, as to the production of the ammoniacal 

 compounds so generally found in connexion with volcanos, the 

 source from which the nitrogen, presumed to be of internal origin, 

 has proceeded, can only be conjectured. From the smoke- vents of 

 lava-streams, as well as from those of the craters of volcanos, atmo- 

 spheric air was evolved, in combination with other gaseous products ; 

 but it was often found poorer in oxygen, or, in other words, richer 

 in nitrogen, than in a normal state, according to Deville, — whilst 

 Palici states (as quoted in the Jahresbericht der Chemie of Liebig and 

 Kopp) that the gas collected in the Lago di Naftia, in Sicily, on the 

 5th October, contained 17*4 volumes of oxygen, and 82'6 of nitrogen, 

 and on the 22nd October, 5-0 of carbonic acid, 15-8 of oxygen, and 

 79-2 of nitrogen. From the same Journal we learn that C. Schmidt 

 had examined the boracic-acid vents of Monte Cerboli in Tuscany. 

 According to his researches, the boracic acid cannot be found in 

 the mixed vapour and gas which issues from the vent itself, but in 

 the shining mud which floats over its mouth, and there in combina- 

 tion with carbonic acid, ammonia, and a small quantity of sulphu- 

 retted hydrogen. In fact, salts of ammonia abound in the dark-grey 

 mud of these mud-lagoons ; and after, in the refining process, the 

 greater portion of the boracic acid has been removed by crystalliza- 

 tion, the residue, obtained from the mother-liquor when condensed 

 by evaporation, yielded on analysis the following results — the first 

 from a specimen obtained by M. Abich, and the second from one 

 collected by M. Schmidt himself : — 



Abich'sSp, 

 Schmidt's 



NH 4 0,SO- 



5-328 



9-667 



MgO,S0 3 

 4-116 

 1-843 



CaO, S0 3 KO, S0 3 

 0-160 1-086 



0-102 0'419 



NaO,S0 3 

 0-266 

 0-515 



NH 4 C1 



0-178 

 0-109 



NH 4 



0-159 

 0-614 



Fe2 3 ; 



0-019 

 0-011 



BO a 



1-754 

 3-094 



Total. 



13-066 in 100 

 16-373,, „ 



with a trace of oxide of manganese and of silicon. 



Here the co-existence of ammoniacal salts and of boracic acid is 

 again manifest ; and it may be fairly assumed that they are the results 

 of the same chemical reaction. In a letter to M. Elie de Beaumont, M. 

 Bornemann mentions a case where the nitrogen is given out in a free 



