as connected mth the Theory of Substitutions. 345 



though the transition from one to the other was abrupt and 



sudden. I have done this that the views here offered might 



<'be unembarrassed and distinct; but there are many facts which 



''4«rye to show that the passage from a state of complete acli- 



-'Vity to a state of complete inactivity takes place through gra- 



*=dual steps. Thus, in carbon itself, there are undoubtedly 



•^ many intermediate stages between the almost spontaneously 



f'hiflammable varieties and diamond, which is, under common 



•circumstances, incombustible. Berzelius admits three allo- 



tropic conditions of this body, C jt, C/3, Cy. Between the 



'*first and last term of this series, it is probable that several in- 



''termediate bodies besides plumbago might be found, their ex- 



• istence establishing the gradual. passage Xvoni one, tp-.the .pther 



state. ' ybnii.tdUi ii an oyihtn ii/i n\ hyihrntV .-'.licj cju ■ 



For similar reasons, in this memoir the illustrations and ar- 

 guments given have for the most part been restricted to one 

 substance, chlorine. It need scarcely be pointed out, in cou- 

 xlusion, that if the views here offered are true, very much of 

 'this reasoning may be transferred to other bodies, as oxygen, 

 l^nitrogen, hydrogen, sulphur, &c. When oxygen and hy- 

 Wlrogen are mixed, there is no disposition exhibited by them 

 to unite; and this does not arise from their happening to have 

 the gaseous form. As in the instance we have been consi- 

 dering, if they be exposed to a high temperature, or to the 

 influence of platina, the active condition is. assunve/d with 

 promptitude, and union takes place.*; >d noijndfUM/'^ >'l'l 

 The power which carbon possesses of throwing bodies into 

 <'A completely passive state, is far from being limited to chlo- 

 ■J-ine ; it re-appears in the case of sulphur. The sulphuret of 

 carbon yields to none of the tests to which we commonly re- 

 sort for determining the presence of sulphur, for the simple 

 reason that its sulphur is in an inactive state. This substance, 

 moreover, serves to illustrate what has been said of the gra- 

 dual passage of bodies from a state of complete activity to one 

 of complete inactivity. Berzelius recognises for it three dif- 

 ferent allotropic states, an alpha, beta, and gamma condition. 

 In none of these is it in that condition of absolute inactivity 

 which it assumes in the sulphuret of carbon*,nffi .i- i 



In offering these experiments and arguments to the consi- 



■ deration of chemists, I am fully aware of the magnitude of the 



change which would be impressed on the science generally, 



* For these examples, the chloride and sulphuret of carbon, I am in- 

 debted to M. Millon's paper, Remarks on the Elements which compose 

 Organic Substances, and on their Mode of Combination, Comptes Itendus, 

 t. xix. p. 799. That chemist, however, gives a very different explanation 

 of thephaenomenainvolved^iij m gjiuoii ij\jXi\ pxuN i;Mi\, li^iliur;; • 



