( 94 / 100 ) by electric sparks. This signifies that under the influence of an electrical discharge the reaction NH 3 = N + 3H is reversible, consequently it is a dissociation, and in it a state of equilibrium is arrived at. The equilibrium may be destroyed by the addition of gaseous hydrochloric acid, HCl, because with ammonia it forms a solid saline compound, sal-ammoniac, NH 4 Cl, which (being formed from a gaseous mixture of 3H, N, and HCl) fixes the ammonia. The remaining mass of nitrogen and hydrogen, under the action of the sparks, again forms ammonia, and in this manner solid sal-ammoniac is obtained to the end by the action of a series of electric sparks on a mixture of gaseous N, H 3 , and HCl. Berthelot (1876) showed that under the action of a silent discharge many non-nitrogenous organic substances (benzene, C 6 H 6 , cellulose in the form of paper, resin, glucose, C 6 H 10 O 5 , and others) absorb nitrogen and form complex nitrogenous compounds, which are capable, like albuminous substances, of evolving their nitrogen as ammonia when heated with alkalis.
By such indirect methods does the gaseous nitrogen of the atmosphere yield its primary compounds, in which form it enters into plants, and is elaborated in them into complex albuminous substances.20 But, starting from a given compound of nitrogen with hydrogen or oxygen, we may, without the aid of organisms, obtain, as will afterwards be partially indicated, most diverse and complex nitrogenous substances, which cannot by any means be formed directly from gaseous nitrogen. In this we see an example not only of the difference between an element in the free state and an intrinsic element, but also of those circuitous or indirect methods by which substances are formed in nature. The discovery, prognostication, and, in general, the study of such indirect methods of the preparation and formation of substances forms one of the existing problems of chemistry. From the fact that A does not act at all on B, it must not be concluded that a compound AB is not to be formed. The substances A and B contain atoms which occur in AB, but their state or the nature of their motion may not be at all that which is required for the formation of AB, and in this substance the chemical state of the elements may be as different as the state of the atoms of oxygen in ozone and in water. Thus free nitrogen is inactive; but in its compounds it very easily enters into changes and is distinguished by great activity. An acquaintance with the compounds of nitrogen confirms this. But, before entering on this subject, let us consider air as a mass containing free nitrogen.
Judging from what has been already stated, it will be evident that atmospheric air21 contains a mixture of several gases and vapours. Some of them are met with in it in nearly constant proportions, whilst others, on the contrary, are very variable in their amount. The chief component parts of air, placed in the order of their relative amounts, are the following: nitrogen,22 oxygen, aqueous vapour, carbonic anhydride, nitric acid, salts of ammonia, oxides of nitrogen, and also ozone, hydrogen peroxide, and complex organic nitrogenous substances. Besides these, air generally contains water, as spray, drops, and snow, and particles of solids, perhaps of cosmic origin in certain instances, but in the majority of cases proceeding from the mechanical translation of solid particles from one locality to another by the wind. These small solid and liquid particles (having a large surface in proportion to their weight) are suspended in air as solid matter is suspended in turbid water; they often settle on the surface of the earth, but the air is never entirely free from them because they are never in a state of complete rest. Then, air not unfrequently contains incidental traces of various substances as everyone knows by experience. These incidental substances sometimes belong to the order of those which act injuriously, the germs of lower organisms—for instance of moulds—and the class of carriers of infectious diseases.