On some Properties of Anhydrous Liquefied Ammonia, 315 



been slightly diminished by its union with chlorine of metallic chlo- 

 rides to form the minute quantity of hydrochloric acid observed in 

 the faint film of moisture on the sides of the first tubes ; and probably 

 also this moisture itself may have been caused by the partial re- 

 duction, by means of hydrogen, of carbonic anhydride to carbonic 

 oxide. Although it might be assumed, especially in view of the 

 strong tendency of iron to take up and *' occlude " carbonic oxide, 

 that this gas had been the original form in which the gaseous carbon 

 compounds obtained existed in the iron, and that it had in part broken 

 up at the temperature of the experiment into carbon (remaining united 

 with the iron) and carbonic anhydride (which escaped as gas), yet 

 in view of the steady decrease in the quantity of this latter gas col- 

 lected as the experiment proceeded and the temperature became 

 higher, and bearing in mind the ready decomposition it undergoes in 

 contact with ignited iron, it seems more likely that a larger amount 

 of carbon originally existed in the iron in this higher state of oxida- 

 tion than appears from the figures of the analysis. Although the 

 proportion of hydrogen found is so much less in the Virginia than in 

 the Lenarto iron, it yet represents for the former about 1*14 times 

 the volume of the iron itself, whereas common terrestrial iron occludes 

 but about •42-'46 of its own volume under ordinary pressure. 



I am quite satisfied, from the condition of the masses of iron as 

 they came into my hands, and especially from the character of the 

 crust, that the metal has not been subjected to any heating in a 

 blacksmith's fire or otherwise by human hands since it was found, as 

 has sometimes happened to similar specimens in the endeavour to 

 discover their nature, or to make use of them. 



"Whether or not this analysis be considered as furnishing pre- 

 sumptive evidence of the Virginia iron having come to our earth 

 from a different atmosphere to that of which the Lenarto meteorite 

 brought us a sample*, the result differs so far from that of our sole 

 previously recorded determination of the kind as to make it a matter 

 of much interest that a larger number of meteoric irons from various 

 localities should be subjected to careful examination in the same 

 direction, thus supplementing our knowledge of the fixed constituents 

 of these curious bodies by a study of their gaseous contents. 



June 20. — Sir James Paget, Bart., D.C.L., Vice-President, in the 



Chair. 



The following communications were read : — 



*' On some Properties of Anhydrous Liquefied Ammonia." By 

 G. Gore, F.R.S. 



This investigation was made for the purpose of ascertaining the 

 general solvent properties of the liquid, and to detect any manifest 

 chemical reactions between it and various substances. The method 

 employed was precisely similar to that used in the examination of 

 liquid cyanogen (see Proc. lioy. Soc. No. 131, 18/1), the tubes 



^' Some of the observations of Secclii and Huggins seem to render it probable 

 that carbon may play an important part in some regions of the universe, though 

 the results on this head are not as full or satisfactory as those in reference to 

 hydrogen. 



