[ 86 ] 
Specific gravity, 1 portion - 1,193 
ad - - 1,126 
3d - - I,I1gI 
Tue general conclufion is however the fame, namely, that what 
firft and laft comes over in diftillation is ftronger than the inter- 
mediate portion, and this conclufion is confirmed by the refult of 
two other experiments, the details of which, as refembling thofe 
defcribed, need not be recited. 
As marine acid air is more volatile than water, we find no diffi- 
culty in_ conceiving how the firft portion of acid may be. the 
moft faturated ; why the laft portion fhould be ftronger than the 
intermediate is not fo obvioufly to be accounted for; perhaps, 
towards the latter end of the procefs, the vitriolic acid acts on 
the falt in a more concentrated ftate. At firft, I imagined that 
part of this acid paffed in diftillation, in confequence of the in- 
creafed heat, but on examining the laft portions with a folution 
‘of nitrated terra ponderofa, I found that no precipitate was pro- 
duced but what was eafily rediffolved in diftilled water, and 
which therefore I concluded did not indicate the prefence of 
vitriolic acid*. 
Nitrous 
* On adding a folution of nitrated terra ponderofa to pure and ftrong nitrous or 
marine acid, I have obferved an eafily foluble precipitate to be produced. Q, Is this 
an earthly falt with excefs of acid, or does the acid deprive the falt of the water of 
ats folution ? 
ia 
