602 Dr. Hare on a recent " Speculation " bi/ Faraday. 



And will a series oi specific gravities thus obtained serve 

 only to construct tables of relative atomic volumes ? Will it 

 not then be reasonable to look for analogies between the spe- 

 cific gravity, the conduction of heat, specific heat, conduction 

 and development of electricity, &c.*, hitherto looked for in 

 vain, on which to base new laws, and to explain phsenomena 

 hitherto inexplicable? 



Submitting these suggestions to your notice, 

 I am, Gentlemen, 



Mayfield, Manchester, Your obedient Servant, 



May 10th, 1845. Benjamin Boughey. 



LXXXVII. Remarks made hy Dr. Hare, at a late meeting of 

 the American Philosophical Society, on a recent speculation by 

 Faraday on Electric Conduction and the Nature of Matter ■\, 

 Messrs. Editors, Philadelphia, Nov. 30, 1844. 



A T the last meeting of the American Philosophical Society, 

 ^^ 1 made some verbal remarks on a recent "speculation" 

 of the celebrated Faraday, published in the London and Edin- 

 burgh Philosophical Magazine for Februarj' last (vol. xxiv. 

 p. 136.). Of course a brief notice will be given of those re- 

 marks in the bulletin of the Proceedings. I send you for 

 publication a statement of my reasoning on the questions at 

 issue, hoping that it will not be found unworthy of the atten- 

 tion of philosophical chemists. 



Your friend, Robert Hare. 



Faraday objects to the Newtonian idea of an atom being 

 associated with combining ratios. These he conceives to 

 have been more advantageously designated as chemical equi- 

 valents J. 



This sagacious investigator adverts to the fact, that after 

 each atom in a mass of the metal potassium has combined 

 with an atom of oxygen and an atom of water, forming thus a 

 hydrated oxide, the resulting aggregate occupies much less 

 space than its metallic ingredient previously occupied ; so 



* I would here also merely ask" the question, would it not be on more 

 philosophical principles if these tables were likewise obtained on the same 

 principle as I have proposed for the specific gravity? i, e. with ail the 

 bodies liquid, and not taken promiscuously as they are found, as is the 

 case at present. 



t Communicated by the Author, from Silliman's American Journal of 

 Science. 



X See his speculations touching electric conduction and tiie nature of 

 matter, vol. xxiv. 3rd series, Philosophical Magazine and Journal, Fe- 

 bruary 1844. 



