the Decomposition of the Earths , &c. 353 
to separate during the oxidation of potassium and sodium, 
their bases might not actually have been in combination with 
them, but the earths themselves, in union with the metals of 
the alkalies, or in mere mechanical mixture. And out of 
an immense number of experiments which I made of the 
kind last detailed, a very few only gave distinct indications of 
the production of any earthy matter ; and in cases when earthy 
matter did appear, the quantity was such as rendered it impos- 
sible to decide on the species. 
Had I been so fortunate as to have obtained more certain 
evidences on this subject, and to have procured the metallic 
substances I was in search of, I should have proposed for them 
the names of silicium, alumium, zirconium, and glucium. 
V. On the production of an Amalgam from Ammonia i and on 
its Nature and Properties . 
In the communication from Professor Berzelius and Dr. 
Pontin, which I have already referred to, a most curious and 
important experiment on the deoxydation and amalgamation 
of the compound basis of ammonia is mentioned, which these 
ingenious gentlemen regard as a strict proof of the idea I had 
formed of its being an oxide with a binary basis. 
Mercury, negatively electrified in the Voltaic circuit, is 
placed in contact with solution of ammonia. Under this 
agency it gradually increases in volume, and when expanded 
to four or five times its former dimensions, becomes a soft 
solid. 
And that this substance is composed of the deoxygenated 
compound basis of ammonia and mercury, they think is 
proved ; 1. By the reproduction of quicksilver and ammonia 5 
MDCCCVIIL Z Z 
