ELECTRO-CHEMICAL PRINCIPLES, 



163 



be determined j but on the contrary, whenever that effect can 

 manifest itself, it acts to very considerable distances, as for 

 instance, in the precipitation of metals upon each other ; and it 

 is very probable, that actions at a distance produced by the 

 electric powers do take place in the bowels of the earth, and 

 contribute not only to the great revolutions of which we find the 

 astonishing vestiges, but likewise to the tranquil formation and 

 decomposition of minerals. 



From the electrochemical view of nature we also derive a The electro- 

 correction in our notions concerning the principles of acidity. pert j e ' s ^hew 

 The celebrated Lavoisier having found that sulphur, phosphorus, why oxigen 

 charcoal, arsenic, &c. produce acids when combined with oxigen, fj^bodies 

 considered oxigen as the acidifying body. But notwithstanding acids, and with 

 this conclusion is supported by the circumstance that oxigen is ot j 6 ff * • * 

 the most electronegative of bodies, and the acids are also electro- ought not to 



negative bodies, bodies were afterwards discovered, possessing be . ?j£lf& »* 



° . acidifying 



the principal characters of acids without containing oxigen j principle, 



and after the discovery that the saline bases are also oxided 

 bodies as well as the acids, it would be equally incorrect to 

 attribute the acid characters to oxigen, or some of its combina- 

 tions, as to suppose it to be the principle of basidity, or to call it 

 the alkaligenous principle. 



The electro-chemical explanation in which the combustible an d from 

 radical of an acid is already in itsnon-oxided state, electronega- these and other 

 tive towards the radicals of the salifiable bases, being consider- shewn, that it 

 ed along with the experimental determination, that the radicals depends on the 

 of the bases, and of the acids, very often combine in the same raf jj c; i an d not 

 proportions in the combustible state, as in the oxided state, upon oxigen, 

 proves that it is to the nature of the radicals, and not to oxigen, ^ x -^ e ^iVbe 

 that we ought to attribute the nature of the product of oxida- an acid or a 

 tion. In this manner it is that sulphur and potassium combine e " 

 for the most part in the same proportions, in the sulphuret of 

 potassium, in the hydrosulphuret of potassium, in the sulphuret 

 of potash, in the hydrosulphuret of potash, in the sulphite, and 

 in the sulphate of potash ; and it is by no means difficult to 

 observe, that sulphur not oxided, performs the part of an acid, 

 that is to say, of an electronegative constituent in the sulphuret 

 and tno hydrosulphuret of potash. These observations upon 

 sulphur and potassium may be applied to all the other com- 

 bustible 



