-,3^ ,' 6« Ehnticity, Lfgfjt, ani Calorkt 



A'table of the j^ecific'CharaSlert of the Earth of Bivjl, 

 •5, Its falts arc faccharine, and (lightly aftringent. 

 a. It is very foluble in the fulphurlc acid by excefs. 

 ^ .3, It decompofes the aluminous falts. 



4. It is foluble in the carbonate of ammoniac. 

 :5^ Is completely precipitated from its folutions by ammoniac. 

 ^. Its affinity for the acids is intermediate between magnefia and alumine. 

 None of the known earths unite the fix properties announced in this table, 

 I prefent to tlie Tnftitute a certain quantity of this earth, and fliall produce at one of its 

 • future fittings a feries of combinations formed with this earth, extra£ted from a confiderable 

 : quantity of beryl given to me by Citizen Patrin, whofe zeal for the advancement of tlic 

 Sciences is well known to every one of their cultivators. ' 



IV. 



Ohfervations on EleHricity, Light, and Caloric, chief y direSfed to the Refults of Dr. TEARSOift 

 Experiments on EleBric Dijcharges through Water. By a Correfpondent, 



^m. 



To Mr. N I C H O L S O N. 



SIR, 



HEN I -received the 6th, 7th, and 8th Numbers of your Journal for 1797, in 

 fucceffion, I read Dr. Pcarfon's Experiments and Obfervatioas on the Gaz produced by 

 •yaffing Eleftric Difcharges through Water *, with attention. 



His experiments appeared to me to be well devifed and conduced, and his conclufionj 

 fair and fatisfa£tory : but his explanations of the manner in which thofe gazes were pro- 

 duced from water, and then re-converted into water by the fame agent, the eleftric fluid, 

 «rere l)y no means fatisfa£l:ory. 



That I might not be premature in my decifions againft Dr. Pearfon's principles or 

 reafonings, I diverted my attention from the fubjeft till now; but, upon the re-perufal of 

 liis papers, I ilill think his principles lax and indeterminate, and his reafonings, in part, 

 «nphilofophical, and to me apparently indefenfible. I take the liberty, therefore, of laying 

 the few following animadverfions and objedlions before you : 



The cleftric fluid, common fire, and light, thofe univerfal and general agents of nature, 

 io far from being underftood, appear to me to be not only confounded, but alfo to be fo 

 imperfeftly confidered, as to be the caufe of endlefs confufion in every department of 

 philofophy. 



Oxygen gaz is faid to \>z formed of oxygen and caloric : — what idea then are we to form 

 of caloric ?— Is ii a fimple, homogeneous principle, or is it a compound ? — The general 

 idea, or at lead the common expreffioh, feems to imply the idea of its being fimply the 

 calorific principle, and confequently uncompounded. 



Oxygen may be converted into oxygen gaz by the eleftric fluid, or by light, as well as 

 Jjy fire. The cledric fluid, then, imparts caloric to oxygen, and fo does light. — What 



• Philof. Journal \. J4i. 299. 349, 



ideas 



