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Mticed are falfe, and as in this in^termediate ftate it has always- 

 been known by the name oi vitKiolic acid^ I think this name Ihould 

 ftill be retained. Nay the fu^phureous acid is itfelf capable of 

 two very different ft.ites, as may be feen in the 6th vol. of De 

 Machv's Edition of Junker, p, 14.3. So the term ?2itric is very 

 proper to denote the full faturation of the nitrous bafis with 

 oxygen. But the term nitrous, employed to denote the fmalleft 

 degree of oxygenation neceffary to convert this bafis into an acid, 

 is improper, as it has evermore conveyed a different idea. Hence 

 I exprefs this loweft extreme of oxygenation by the term mepbito 

 fiitfous, as the radical primary bafis may be called mephite or me- 

 phitic air, inftead of the new coined name azote. And the tei-m 

 nitrous acid rmy flill denote, as it has evermore done, the rriean 

 ftate of oxygenation, that indeed in which it is ufually found, 

 and for whiclithe French School ha^e no name but that of one 

 or other of the extreme ftates, which muft therefore be falfeiy 

 applied. The term epinitrous air, introduced by the learned and 

 ingenious Dickfon, may be ufed to denote what Do6tor Prieftly 

 called dephlogijiicated nitrout air, at leaft imtil its nature is better 

 developed. 



It is in vain that the authority of Bergman is invoked to coun- 

 tenance the fuppreffion of the antient names of Glauber, Epfom, 

 &c. reje«Sting only the oftentatious additions made to fome of 

 them, as fal admirabile Glauleri, &c. 4 Bergm. p. 257, It is true 



I 2 he 



