Note 111 — RESEARCH I. (continued 2)

As carbonic acid and ammoniac are both products of animalisation, is it not probable that our common waters particularly those in, and near towns and cities, contain carbonate of ammoniac? If so, this salt will always exist in them after distillation. In the experiments on carbonate of ammoniac, to which I have often alluded, I found, in distilling a solution of this salt in water, that before half of the water had passed into the recipient, the carbonate of ammoniac had sublimed; so that the distilled solution was much stronger than before, whilst the water remaining in the retort was tasteless. Will this supposition at all explain Humbolt’s mistake?