456 Dr. Odling on a Theory of Condensed Ammonia Compounds. 



compounds, all of which, and many like them, are fairly well 

 known : — 



~C1,N H 3 , 

 AgCl, N 2 h 6 , 

 yCl,N s H 9 , 



yCl,N 4 H 12 . 



Chemists who express the composition of the chlorides of 

 ethyle and butyle as underneath, may express the composition 

 of the ammoniated chlorides of silver and calcium in a similar 

 fashion; thus — 



CI, C H 2 



CI, C H 2 



CI, N H 3 



CI, N H 3 



H, C H 2 



CH 2 



Ag, N H 3 



NH 3 





CH 2 





NH 3 





H,CH 2 





~, N H 3 



The polyammoniated salts are all more or less unstable. It 

 is observable, however, that the diammonia compounds are 

 habitually less unstable than their more highly ammoniated 

 congeners, and coincidently that in the diammonia compounds 

 alone is it possible for each unit of ammonia to be combined 

 directly with a constituent of the hydrochloric acid or of its re- 

 presentative metallic chloride. 



The superior solubility of diammonia compounds is especially 

 recognizable in the case of the best- characterized metal-ammonia 

 bases, such as platinamine and platosamine. In the salts which 

 these and such like bases form w T ith hydrochloric acid, a portion 

 of the hydrogen of the ammonia, instead of the hydrogen of the 

 hydrochloric acid, would appear to be replaced by its equivalent 

 of metal. 



Still employing the equivalent method of notation, hydrochlo- 

 ride of platosamine (the yellow salt) would be represented thus : 



HC1,NH 2 ^. 



This salt very readily absorbs another unit of ammonia, and 

 thereby forms the hydrochloride of diplatosamine, 



HCl.N'H'* or H, r^ 

 2 C1,NH 8 ' 



