328 OBSERVATIONS ON MURIATIC ACID, &c. 
pounds were formed, if they would constitute either acid or al- 
kali. And there is at least no proof of their formation. In all 
these cases, while the hydrogen present combines with the re- 
quisite proportion of oxygen forming water, the radical of the 
acid, and the radical of the base, may enter into union with 
the remaining oxygen, and form a ternary compound. And 
where hydrogen is not present, such a combination may be at 
once established. 
It is not easy to determine which of these opinions is just. 
The reason above stated, renders the latter, perhaps, more pro- 
bable ; and the view which leads to the conclusion, that in the 
constitution of the acids and alkalis, the three elements, when 
present, are in simultaneous combination, leads also to a 
similar conclusion with regard to the constitution of the neu- 
tral salts. If this be adopted, neutralisation is not the satura- 
tion of acid with alkali, and the subversion of the properties of 
the one by the opposed action of those of the other ; but is the 
change of composition of both, and the quiescence of the ele- 
ments, in that proportion in which their affinities are in a state 
of equilibrium without any excess. The compounds, therefore, 
have little activity ; and energy of action is restored only by 
the reproduction of substances, which, by their mutual attrac- 
tions, tend to the same state of quiescence. 
All these results display more fully the extensive relations 
of the two elements, oxygen and hydrogen. They do not act 
merely in opposition, as had been imagined, but more fre- 
quently in union, producing similar effects. Hydrogen is of 
nearly equal importance with Oxygen, and the principal details 
of chemistry, consist in their modified action on inflammable 
and metallic bodies. 
XVII. 
