so ESSAYS AND OBSERVATIONS, 



the fmallefl: degree partake of the nature 

 of fait. Befides this, an alkaline folutioa 

 added to thefe waters produced upoa 

 them no vifible alteration ; which would 

 not have been the cafe,' if they had ex- 

 traded any thing of a faline nature from 

 the marles. For, as marie contains no 

 alkaline fait *, the calcarious earth alone 

 of this fubftance could ferve as a bafis 

 for the formation of a neutral fait ; and it 

 is well known, that all fuch neutral falts 

 are, after folution in water, immediately 

 decompounded by the addition of an al- 

 kaline fait, which never fails to throw 

 the earth to the bottom in form of a 

 white p jwder. Therefore, if our waters 

 had extracfted any fait from the marles 

 with which they were digsfted, the al- 

 kaline folution would infallibly have dif- 

 covered it t« 



It 



* Experltnent 1.2. 



f Having d^ffolved 27 grains of pure chalk in a drachm 

 of the nitrous acid, »ud mixed the folucioa with nrc 



drachoas 



