Elements of chemistry : including the applications of the science in the arts . first observed thestimulating powe°- of nitrous oxide when taken into the lungs, a property which hassince attracted a considerable degree of popular attention to this gas. Preparation. — Protoxide of nitrogen is always prepared from the nitrate ofammonia. Some attention must be paid to the purity of that salt, which shouldcontain no hydrochlorate of ammonia. It is formed by adding pounded carbonateof ammonia to pure nitric acid, which, if concentrated, may be previously dilutedwith half its bulk of water, so long
Elements of chemistry : including the applications of the science in the arts . first observed thestimulating powe°- of nitrous oxide when taken into the lungs, a property which hassince attracted a considerable degree of popular attention to this gas. Preparation. — Protoxide of nitrogen is always prepared from the nitrate ofammonia. Some attention must be paid to the purity of that salt, which shouldcontain no hydrochlorate of ammonia. It is formed by adding pounded carbonateof ammonia to pure nitric acid, which, if concentrated, may be previously dilutedwith half its bulk of water, so long as there is effervescence; and a small excess ofthe carbonate may be left at the end in the liquor. The solution should be filtered,and concentrated till its boiling point begins to rise above 250°, and a drop of itbecomes solid on a cool glass plate. On cooling, it forms a solid cake, which mayhe broken into fragments. To obtain nitrous oxide, a quantity of this salt, whichshould never be less than 6 or 8 ounces, is introduced into a retort, or a globular 254 Fig. 115. flask, called a bolt-bead a, and boated by a cbarcoal cboffer b, tbe diffused beat ofwbicb is more suitable than the heat of alamp. Paper may be pasted over the corkof tbe bolt-bead to keep it air-tight. At atemperature not under 340° tbe salt boilsand begins to undergo decomposition, beingresolved into nitrous oxide and water. Asbeat is evolved in this decomposition, whichis a kind of combustion or deflagration, thecboffer must be withdrawn to such a dis-tance from the flask as to sustain only amoderate ebullition. If the temperature isallowed to rise too high, the ebullition be-comes tumultuous, and the flask is filledwith white fumes, which have an irritating odour; and the gas which then comesoff is little more than nitrogen. Nitrous oxide should be collected in a gasometeror in a gas-holder filled with water of a temperature about 90°, as cold water absorbsmuch of this gas. The whole salt u
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