F. H. Storer—Ammonia a contaminant of Sulphuric Acid. 489 
III. Oil of vitriol from Eaton’s Chemical Works, South Wil- 
mington, Mass. 
IV. Oil of vitriol, “chemically pure,” from Trommsdorff of Erfurt. 
VY. Pan acid from the Works at North Billerica. 
VI. Pan acid from Eaton’s Works. 
VII. Chamber acid from Eaton’s Works. 
VII. Chamber acid from the Works at North Billerica. 
IX. Chamber acid from the Merrimack Print Works at Lowell. 
Five cubic centimeters* Gave grams 
of the acid of ammonia (NH;). 
o I che ee neta ae PO eee 
ne Ae oe 0°000075 
MS RAR teens Sank oo ee Coes aes 0°000245 
pce | PN Sate 0°000095 
VAY asauchasaee seu. eps a eee ee 
at AM cares la ee ca 0°000140 
yin, 6 | RRR vee ea 07000050 
PS OV ELE 25 SG fo cc os geese us ee 0°000158 
Me Ee Ls a ee eee 
Care was taken to i aches the above samples of acids (ex- 
cepting Nos. I and I 
m 
Einbrodt.+ So too when applied, for the sake of control, to 
the distillate from acid No. 4 of the foregoing list, Einbrodt’s 
t gave a very strong reaction for ammonia. 
There are several ways in which sulphuric acid may be con- 
taminated with ammonia. Some insignificant traces of this 
substance are of course contained in the air which is used for 
making the acid, and a still larger amount is often contained in 
the water that plays so important a part in the process of 
Manufacture. It is not impossible indeed that nitrogen com- 
pounds in the water may sometimes be the cause of appreciable 
of ammonia in the acid. It is easy to conceive moreover 
that considerable quantities of ammonia may be formed in the 
apparatus of the sulphuric acid maker through reduction of 
nitric acid or other oxide of nitrogen that is necessarily present, 
* The weight of 5 c. c. of the oil of vitriol was rather more than 9 grams in 
each instance; that of the pan acid was about 8} grams, and that of the chamber 
acid rather more than 7 grams. 
FP Epc chloride in alkaline solutions. See Liebig & Kopp’s Jahresbericht, 
» V, 723 and 1863, xvi, 167. 
