Thomson's St/Stem of Chemistry. 171 



Or in 100 parts, Alcohol 57.44 



Carbonic acid 42.56 



This result approaches so nea.ty that of Lavoisier, that there 

 is reason to suspect that the coincidence is more than acci- 

 dental*." This imputation against the honour of M. Thenard, 

 whose experiments he is canvassing, is unwarranted. But as 

 Dr. Thomson not merely adopts the atomic theory of M. Gay- 

 Lussac, but gives it as his own, we should beg him to tell us, 

 what absolute alcohol will become, when deprived of 8.3 per 

 cent, of its constituent water. We see plainly that 60.87 : 

 39.13:: 1,75: 1.125; but take away 8.3 per cent, of water from 

 alcohol, and we shall have a remainder of 60.87 of defiant 

 gas + 30.83 water; now 60.87 : 30.83 : : 1.75 : 0.888. Here, 

 therefore, we have the atomic weight 1.75 of olefiant gas, asso- 

 ciated with 0.888, instead of 1.125 of water; or his atom of 

 the former, with about 8-lOths of an atom of the latter. 



His subsequent atomic view of the conversion of sugar into 

 carbonic acid and alcohol, is copied closely from M. Gay-Lussac, 

 Annalesde Chimie, Tome 95 (for July, 1815). 



We have now fatigued ourselves, and we fear many of our 

 kind readers, with the length and minuteness of our remarks. 



Besides the errors and defects which we have noticed, there 

 are others in every page, occasioned chiefly by the incessant 

 twisting, stretching, and curtailing, of experimental results, to 

 suit some fantastic atomical dress. 



We have animadverted on the style passim. It is feeble, 

 discontinuous, and ungrammatical. But it is the spirit of the 

 book which we most dislike, and which we think calculated to 

 awaken jealousy and misunderstanding, where the most cordial 

 unanimity should subsist. We have endeavoured, from the 

 purest motives, to apply the corrective powers of criticism, 

 to this spirit. But the effectual mode of laying it, would be 

 for some person of judgment, temper, and taste, to execute 

 the laborious task, of uniting into one comprehensive and sys- 

 tematic body, the well authenticated results of chemical inves- 

 tigation. 



• System, IV. 377. 



