7 
chemical Agencies of Electricity. 
minute ; but evaporation and the usual process proved that 
some fixed alkali was present. The acid, as far as its properties 
were examined, agreed with pure nitrous acid having an 
excess of nitrous gas. 
I repeated the experiment, and carried on the process for 
three days ; at the end of which time the water in the tube 
was decomposed and evaporated to more than one half of its 
original quantity ; the acid was strong, but the alkali in as 
minute a portion as in the last experiment. It acted indeed 
rather more vividly on the tests, on account of the greater 
diminution of the fluid, but presented the same results after 
being heated. 
It was now impossible to doubt that the water contained 
some substance in very minute quantities, capable of causing 
the appearance of fixed alkali, but which was soon exhausted ; 
and the question that immediately presented itself was, Is 
this substance saline matter carried over in distillation ? or is 
it nitrogen gas which exists in minute portions in all water 
that has been exposed to air, and which, if an element of the 
fixed alkali, would under the circumstance of the experiment 
have been soon exhausted, whilst its absorption from the 
atmosphere would be impeded by the saturation of the water 
with hydrogen ? 
I was much more inclined to the former than to the latter 
supposition. I evaporated a quart of the distilled water that 
I had used, very slowly at a heat below 140° Fahrenheit, 
in a silver still ; a solid matter remained, equal to of a 
grain ; this matter had a saline but metallic taste, and was 
deliquescent when exposed to air : I could not obtain from it 
regular crystals ; it did not affect turmeric or litmus, but a part 
