3G6 DECOMPOSITION OP SULPHUR. 



which they arc composed are the same, as those that enter 

 into the composition of substances, that belong to, the vege- 

 table and animal kingdoms. But let me not be mistaken. 

 In which the The state in which we are acquainted with certain principles 

 elementary - s v ^ f rom t j le great condensation they must expe- 

 matters are J ° . 



greatly con- rience, before they enter into the composition of the mine- 

 densed. ra j kingdom. Accordingly the compounds of those that 



result from a union of these principles must differ, in pro- 

 portion as they recede from the former state, or approach 

 In the vege- the latter. This in fact we observe in the vegetable king- 

 thevare fess'so dom. ^he essential oils, for example, must be considered 

 as compounds, in which the principles are very near the 

 gaseous state; while the elements that constitute the resins 

 and fixed oils are in a state of the greatest condensation, 

 with respect to the kingdom to which they belong. But 

 this greatest condensation of the principles, that form the 

 different compounds of the vegetable kingdom, is far re- 

 moved from the first degree of condensation of the elements 

 JmJestructibi- that constitute the substances of the mineral kingdom. Ac- 

 hty of mineral corc jj n gly the indestructibility of the latter seems connected 

 with the difficulty of causing principles to retrograde towards 

 a state of less condensation, that have the very opposite 

 tendency 



What I have just said of the different degrees of conden- 

 sation, in which the principles that constitute all natural 

 bodies exist, I advanced ten years ago in the first paper I 

 had the honour to present to the Institute on the composi- 

 tion of alkalis: and I have seen with pleasure, that Mr. 

 Berthollet, in adopting this opinion in his Chemical Statics, 

 has taken it out of the rank of hypotheses. 

 This property, As to the indestructibility of mineral substances, to 

 ©wing to the wn i cn j ascribe the difficulty of causing the principles that 

 finity of their constitute them to retrograde toward a state of less conden- 



pnnciijles, sation, this too is an opinion, which appears to me to 



merits conside- 7 r ri 



Mtion. merit all the attention of chemists. In fact, what power, 



except that of the mutual attraction of the principles that 

 compose all the substances of the mineral kingdom, can 

 enable them to resist the eminently dilatable action of ca- 

 loric? Thus fire, to effect the decomposition of mineral 



substances, 



