the Decomposition of the Earths , &c. 361 
which no moisture could be supposed to adhere, by heating an 
amalgam of potassium in ammoniacal gas. The amalgam 
became covered with a film of potash, but it did not enlarge 
in its dimensions, and a considerable quantity of non-absorb-« 
able gas, which was found to consist of five parts of hydrogene, 
and one of nitrogene, was produced. The amalgam after this 
operation did not emit ammonia by exposure to air, hence it 
seems probable, that for the deoxygenation of ammonia, and 
the combination of its basis with mercury, the alkali must be 
in the nascent state, or at least in that condensed form in 
which it exists in ammoniacal salts, or solutions. 
VI. Some Considerations of general Theory, connected with the 
Metallization of the Alkalies and the Earths. 
The more the properties of the amalgam obtained from 
ammonia are considered, the more extraordinary do they 
appear. 
Mercury by combination with about y^^oo P art * ts we ight 
of new matter, is rendered a solid, yet has its specific gravity 
diminished from 13.5 to less than 3, and it retains all its 
metallic characters ; its colour, lustre, opacity, and conducting 
powers remaining unimpaired. 
It is scarcely possible to conceive that a substance which 
forms with mercury so perfect an amalgam, should not be 
metallic in its own nature ;* and on this idea to assist the discus- 
* The nature of the compounds of sulphur and phosphorus with mercury, favours 
this opinion ; these inflammable bodies by combination, impair its metallic properties ; 
cinnabar is a non-conductor, and it would seem from Pellbtier’s experiments, 
Ann. de Chemie, vol. xiii. p. 125, that the phosphuret of mercury is not metallic in 
its characters ; charcoal is a conductor, and in plumbago carbon approaches very 
MDCCCVIII. 3 A 
