](X> on THE IfATVRE OF OXIMURIATXC ACI9. 



Jeeeivtfs ^xigen, the oximuriatic acid, hidrogen, and a conv* 



f>ouru) of muriatic acid and potash is again formed. Wh«. 



«ir>€« n©t perct^ive iu all this abundance of hypothetical as* 



aumptions ? asumptions I havie no hesitation in saying more 



gratuitous and more complicated, than any required in tiie 



opposite? system, or perhaps in any other chemical fcpetu* 



lation. 



C»i»paw»on of Mr. Davv*s opinion then I ve'^ard as an hypothesis : the 



♦Netvto hypo/ Ti' • J T , , ,• . . 



I^<«Q&. opinion 1 have mamtained 1 have also distmctly admittt^d 



in my former paper to be an hypothesis: each rests on an 

 apparently probable induction, and is capable of being ap- 

 plied with moxe or less probability to the various pheno<« 

 tnena. Placing them an this ground I considered and still 

 Von«ider the common doctrme as superior in simplicity, iu 

 Inquiring less strained and less complicated assumptions, in 

 *ffor<ling explanations of facts which the other does not ex-» 

 plain, and in according with the general system of chemical 

 theory; receiving therefore allUhe support which the evi- 

 dence on which that theory rests can give, while the other is 

 anomalous, and has the weight of that evidence against it. 

 I proceedi to offer a few observations on some of the more 

 particular topics of this discussion. 



lR»'iU<fl^i M^ Daw remarks, that when I speak of muriatic acid 1 



fifioket) ot - "■111 111 



%iiu>>sigK noit ^^ "Ot mean the whole ponderable part of it; water I con-» 



^>tlwbiied8«- sider as necessary to its existence in its gaseous state, and 

 ** - * that it is to the substance free from this water that the terai 



touriatic acid is ap{>lie4» This is my meaning. But when 

 he proceeds to the interrogations, has Mr. M. examined it 

 in its iflRulated state? has he described its properties? or 

 has any chemist ever obtained it ? And when from the ne- 

 gative given of course to these he concludes, that I must re- 

 gard muriatic acid gas as a compound of an unknowu basis 

 ;nxd water, he raises or magnifies di^culties of little import- 

 ance, er at least not peculiar to this investigation. When \ 

 speak of real sulphuric or iiitricacid, I mean the acid free 

 froi» water, though it may hot have been obtained in that 

 ■ftate; and in thus using language which is familiar to che- 

 ?nist3 I am not aware, that 1 introduce any novelty of hypo- 

 thesis* The real muriatic acid I consider as an acid from 

 hiwvio^ reasoii ta conclude, that it exists ia its solid com- 



poundtj, 



