MRS. B.
Yes, it does; it is of equal importance in the arts, and is even preferred to potash for some purposes; but you will not be able to distinguish their properties till we examine the compound salts which they form with acids; we must therefore leave soda for the present, and proceed to AMMONIA, or the VOLATILE ALKALI.
EMILY.
I long to hear something of this alkali; is it not of the same nature as hartshorn?
MRS. B.
Yes, it is, as you will see by-and-bye. This alkali is seldom found in nature in its pure state; it is most commonly extracted from a compound salt, called sal ammoniac, which was formerly imported from Ammonia, a region of Libya, from which both these salts and the alkali derive their names. The crystals contained in this bottle are specimens of this salt, which consists of a combination of ammonia and muriatic acid.
CAROLINE.
Then it should be called muriat of ammonia; for though I am ignorant what muriatic acid is, yet I know that its combination with ammonia cannot but be so called; and I am surprised to see sal ammoniac inscribed on the label.
MRS. B.
That is the name by which it has been so long known, that the modern chemists have not yet succeeded in banishing it altogether; and it is still sold under that name by druggists, though by scientific chemists it is more properly called muriat of ammonia.