absorbs carbonic anhydride from the air. The magnesium salts, like those of calcium, potassium, and sodium, are colourless if they are formed from colourless acids. Those which are soluble have a bitter taste, whence magnesia has been termed bitter-earth . In comparison with the alkalis magnesia is a feeble base, inasmuch as it forms somewhat unstable salts, easily gives basic salts, forms acid salts with difficulty, and is able to give double salts with the salts of the alkalis, which facts are characteristic of feeble bases, as we shall see in becoming acquainted with the different metals.
The power of magnesium salts to form double and basic salts is very frequently shown in reactions, and is specially marked as regards ammonium salts. If saturated solutions of magnesium and ammonium sulphates are mixed together, a crystalline double salt Mg(NH 4 ) 2 (SO 4 ) 2 ,6H 2 O, is immediately precipitated. A strong solution of ordinary ammonium carbonate dissolves magnesium oxide or carbonate, and precipitates crystals of a double salt, Mg(NH 4 ) 2 (CO 3 ) 2 ,4H 2 O, from which water extracts the ammonium carbonate. With an excess of an ammonium salt the double salt passes into solution, and therefore if a solution contain a magnesium salt and an excess of an ammonium salt—for instance, sal-ammoniac—then sodium carbonate will no longer precipitate magnesium carbonate. A mixture of solutions of magnesium and ammonium chlorides, on evaporation or refrigeration, gives a double salt, Mg(NH 4 )Cl 3 ,6H 2 O. The salts of potassium, like those of ammonium, are able to enter into combination with the magnesium salts. For instance, the double salt, MgKCl 3 ,6H 2 O, which is known as carnallite , and occurs in the salt mines of Stassfurt, may be formed by freezing a saturated solution of potassium chloride with an excess of magnesium chloride. A saturated solution of magnesium sulphate dissolves potassium sulphate, and solid magnesium sulphate is soluble in a saturated solution of potassium sulphate. A