55 
some new Objects in Chemical Philosophy , 
It is possible, that the minute quantity of oxygene which ap- 
pears to be separated is not accidental, but a result of the 
decomposition ; and if hydrogene and nitrogene be both 
oxides of the same basis, the possibility of the production of 
different proportions of water, in different operations, might 
account for the variations observed in some cases in their re- 
lative proportions ; but on the whole, the idea that ammonia is 
decomposed into hydrogene and nitrogene alone, by electricity, 
and that the loss of weight, is no more than is to be expected 
in processes of so delicate a kind, is in my opinion, the most 
defensible view of the subject. 
But if ammonia be capable of decomposition into nitrogene 
and hydrogene, what, it will be asked, is the nature of the 
matter existing in the amalgam of ammonia ? what is the 
metallic basis of the volatile alkali ? These are questions, 
intimately connected with the whole of the arrangements of 
chemistry ; and they are questions, which, as our instru- 
ments of experiment now exist, it will not, I fear, be easy to 
solve. 
I have stated in my former communication on the amalgam 
from ammonia, that under all the common circumstances of its 
production, it seems to preserve a quantity of water adhering 
to it, which may be conceived to be sufficient to oxidate the 
metal, and to reproduce the ammonia. 
I have tried various devices with the hopes of being able to 
form it from ammonia in a dry state, but without success. 
Neither the amalgams of potassium, sodium, or barium, pro- 
duce it in ammoniacal gas ; and when they are heated with 
muriate of ammonia, unless the salt is moist, there is no 
metallization of the alkali. 
