252 On the Production of Boracic Acid and Ammonia. 



hydrochloric acid, allowed to become clear by subsidence, and 

 the solution decanted from the undissolved portion. The latter 

 was washed, to remove the adhering acid, and boiled with a 

 weak solution of caustic potash, without the least trace of am- 

 monia being liberated. The residue was collected, washed 

 with distilled water, and dried. Some caustic potash was next 

 fused in a tube of hard glass, and, while in this state, was found 

 to yield no evidence of ammoniacal gas. A fragment of the 

 dried, white, insoluble residue was then dropped into the pot- 

 ash, and the fusion repeated. Strong evidence of the forma- 

 tion and liberation of ammonia was at once indicated. It was 

 obvious, from this experiment, that the ammonia could not 

 have been really formed in this substance, but must have been 

 produced by some decomposition effected by the potash. These 

 phenomena at once recalled to my mind the interesting com- 

 pound of boron and nitrogen, discovered in the year 1842, by 

 Mr Balmain, who applied to it the name of Ethogen, and which 

 has since been examined by Professor Wohler. This com- 

 pound is produced by heating borax and ferrocyanide of po- 

 tassium, in their anhydrous states, to a full red-heat in a covered 

 crucible. The white, infusible, porous mass, which results 

 from this action is washed with a large quantity of boiling 

 water, acidulated with hydrochloric acid. 



The nitride of boron so obtained is insoluble in water and 

 acids, even when concentrated, but when fused with caustic 

 potash, ammonia is copiously evolved, and if heated in a current 

 of steam to a moderate red heat, it is entirely converted into 

 boracic acid and ammonia. These characters correspond with 

 those of the white compound I have examined, as far as the 

 evolution of ammonia is concerned, but owing to the small quan- 

 tity at my disposal, I was unable to determine the presence of 

 boracic acid, or rather of boron, except by its peculiar phos- 

 phorescence before the blowpipe flame. The existence of this 

 compound in active volcanoes would also explain, in a satisfac- 

 tory manner, the simultaneous presence of boracic acid and 

 ammonia. I am in hopes of obtaining some of the fused mass 

 which lies below the surface of the crater, and should I do so, 

 I may be able to establish some additional facts, which may 

 form the subject of a future communication. 



