HISTOET OF THE ATOMIC THEORY. ^ 199 



§ XXV. 



" A. When we look on all these numbers found, viz., 526, 

 616, 796, 973, &c., as quantities of the elements which 

 are at rest with 1000 parts of sulphuric acid, we obtain a 

 series, the law of which soon appears to us. Let us first 

 subtract the first term from all the succeeding, and we obtain 

 the following differences, which may be expressed in various 

 ways :— 



" B. The law by which the differences of the actual and 

 possible alkaline earths increase in relation to vitriolic acid is 

 then so far made out that it follows from the product of a 

 number which is here 90 with the consecutive odd numbers ; 

 we may consider the numbers which are to be subtracted, such 

 at 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, &c., as nothing, because the greatest error 

 that could be caused is only 4iiy=TH=0.0066, or iiiV«nj ; but 

 even this is not necessary, because the numbers themselves 

 proceed in distinct order, as the series shews; and if we 

 inquire, as in § XXII., into the manner in which these 

 numbers progress, we observe that if three of them increase 



