434 Henryks Experiments on Ammonia , &?r. 
From the average of a great number of experiments on the 
decomposition of ammonia by electricity, I was for sometime 
led to believe, that you had rather under-stated the proportion 
of permanent gases obtainable from it by this process, (viz. 
108 measures of permanent gas, from 60 of ammonia or 180 
from 100). For the most part, I had found the bulk of am- 
monia to be doubled by decomposition, even when the gas 
was previously dried with extreme care. In one instance, 
a small bit of dry potash was left in the tube, along with the 
ammonia, during electrization, with the view of its absorbing 
water, which I supposed, at that time, to be generated by the 
process. In this case, 59 measures (each = 10 grains of 
mercury) became 115. The following table shews the ex- 
pansion of various quantities of ammonia. 
fixp. 
1. 60 measures of ammonia, gave permanent gas 112 
2. 60 - - - - 120 
3. 59 (potash being left in the tube) - - 115 
4- 55 115 
5- 75 (under the pressure of half an atmosphere) 150 
6. 65 ----- 130 
7- 6 5 ~ - - 130 
8. 53 (one of the conductors being of steel wire) 106 
49 3 978 
and 492 : 978 : : 100 : 198,78. These proportions, you 
will find, correspond very nearly with those long ago stated 
the alkaline gas, even when the gas has been previously exposed to quick-lime. In 
this case, the ammonia attracts a portion of muriatic acid from the earthy salt, agree- 
ably to the law of affinity, which has been so ably illustrated by Berthollet. 
