28 On the Nature of Nitrogen, and the Theory of Nitrification. 



the observations of Houzeau, carrying its oxidizing action so far 

 as to acidify the nitrogen of the atom of ammonia. Certain of 

 the reactions attributed to ozone would thus, as many chemists 

 have already maintained, be due to a minute portion of nitrous 

 acid, which is formed when active oxygen is brought in contact 

 with moist atmospheric nitrogen. On the other hand, the hy- 

 drogen set free by reducing agents may, by destroying the acid 

 of the regenerated nitrite of ammonia, set free the ammonia of 

 the salt, and even form a second atom by the reduction of the 

 acid (The Canadian Journal, March 1861). These views will 

 also be found in a note written by me, and published in the 

 American Journal of Science for July 1861 (page 109), and 

 copied into the Philosophical Magazine for September 1861, 

 and the ( Chemical News/ I found that a current of air which 

 had passed through a solution of permanganate of potash acidu- 

 lated with sulphuric acid, acquired the odour and the reaction of 

 ozone. This disappeared when the air was passed through a 

 solution of potash, which at the end of a certain time appeared 

 to contain a nitrite. This reaction, which seems to indicate the 

 formation of nitrous acid, not by an electric or a catalytic action 

 accompanying the production of ozone, but by the action of 

 nascent oxygen upon atmospheric nitrogen in the presence of 

 water, supports the above views, and, as I have remarked in the 

 note in question, furnishes the key to a new theory of nitrifi- 

 cation. 



The formation of nitrite of ammonia by the combination of 

 the nitryl NN with H 4 O 4 , must necessarily be limited to very 

 minute quantities by the instability of this ammoniacal salt, 

 which, as is well known, decomposes readily into nitrogen and 

 water. In order therefore to produce any considerable quantity 

 of a nitrite by this reaction, there is required the presence of 

 active oxygen or of a fixed base to separate the ammonia. 



The recent experiments of Schonbein have furnished new 

 evidences of the direct formation of a nitrite at the expense of 

 the nitrogen of the atmosphere. According to him, when sheets 

 of paper moistened with a feeble solution of an alkali or an 

 alkaline carbonate are exposed to the air, especially in the pre- 

 sence of watery vapour, and at a temperature of 50° or 60° C, 

 the alkaline base soon fixes a sufficient quantity of nitrous acid 

 to give the characteristic reactions. Appreciable traces of nitrite 

 are, according to Schonbein, obtained in this way even without 

 the intervention of an alkali. He moreover found that distilled 

 w r ater, mixed with a little potash or sulphuric acid, and evapo- 

 rated slowly at a temperature of 50° C. in the open air, fixes in 

 the one case a small portion of ammonia, and in the other a little 

 nitrous acid. Traces of a nitrite are also formed in pure water 



