the basis, and also to assist me, as will be seen hereafter, in forming certain inferences with regard to the alkaline salts. For this purpose I made the following experiments.
1. To four ounces of the water was added nitrat of barytes till the whole of the sulphuric acid was precipitated; the sulphat of barytes thus obtained being carefully edulcorated and heated to redness in a platina crucible, weighed 18,5 grains, which correspond to 74 grains of sulphat of barytes from a pint of the water.
2. Four ounces of the water were treated with nitrat of silver as long as any precipitate appeared, and the muriat of silver thus obtained, being well edulcorated, and afterwards brought to a state of incipient fusion by the heat of an Argand lamp, weighed 2,05, which is equivalent to 8,2 grains of luna cornes, or four grains of muriat of soda,[1] in each pint of the water.[2]
§ XIV. Sulphat and Muriat of Soda.
1. The mode in which I first attempted to ascertain the presence of alkaline salts in the water, was that alluded to in a former part of this paper, which consisted in precipitating the iron and the earths by subcarbonat of ammonia, evaporating the clear solution to dryness, heating the dry mass to redness, with a view to drive of the sulphats and muriats of ammonia, redissolving the residue in water, and evaporating
- ↑ I have found by direct experiments that one hundred grains of pure muriat of soda heated to redness, and decomposed by nitrat of silver, yield 241,6 grains of luna cornea heated to fusion.
- ↑ The same experiment was tried three times upon different specimens of the water, and I here give the average. The smallest quantity of luna cornea obtained was two grains, and the largest 2,5 grains, a difference too great to arise from mere inaccuracy. From this and several other circumstances I have reason to suspect that the water is subject to occasional variations in the proportions, as well as in the aggregate quantity of its solid contents.
