310 



Progress of' Foreign Science. 



errors which are ingrafted, without comment, into the largest 

 system of English chemistry. The above experimentalists ima- 

 gine that, on considering the quotients obtained by dividing 

 the weights of the atoms by the respective specific gravities of 

 the bodies, they find the volumes of the atoms to form a series, 

 which pervades the greater number of simple substances. Al- 

 though we conceive this series to be a matter of illusion, yet as 

 the hydrostatic experiments seem to have been executed with 

 care, we shall insert their first table of results. 



e of the .Substance- 



Weight of the 

 Atom. 



Densitj 

 •'""'ed to 



Ice * 



Silica 



Boracic acid 



Arsenious acid 



Protoxide of copper .... 



Oxide of bismuth .... 



Oxide of lead 



Peroxide of mercury 



Caustic lime 



Carbonate of lime ... 



Solid carbonic acid in the car- 

 bonate of lime .... 



Anhydrous sulph. lime . 



Solid sulph. acid in sulphate^ 

 of lime 



Crystallized sulph. of lime 



Alumina ... . . 



Nepheline, silicate of alumine 



Water in cryst. sulph. lime 



Sulphur 



112.4354 

 596.42 

 269.65 



1240.77 

 891.39 



1973.S 



27S9.0 



2731.6 

 712.06 



1262.72 



1714.38 



2164.12 



642.32 



1238.75 



0.950 

 2.650 

 1.830 

 3.698 

 5.749 

 8.449 

 8.010 

 11.29 

 3.08 

 2.717 



2.960 



2.322 

 4.200 

 3.270 



2.086 



117 



225 

 220 

 335 

 155 

 233 

 347 

 240 

 231 

 464 



116 



579 



174 



932 

 152 



378 



88 



116 

 232 

 232 

 348 

 155 

 232 

 348 

 232 

 232 

 464 



116 



580 



174 



928 

 154 

 386 



88 



In the preceding table, the common divisor employed by 

 these gentlemen is 116= their volume of the atom of ice. 

 Their atomic weights are mostly taken from Berzelius. They 

 seem perfectly unacquainted with Dr. Prout's happy generaliza- 

 tion; which renders it more than probable that the weight of 

 all the atoms are multiples of the atomic weight of hydrogen, 

 by a whole number. Indeed, we have little reason to be sur- 

 prised at this ignorance in these gentlemen, when M. Berzelius 



* Our experiments on the s]). gr. of ice give the number 0.9133. It was 

 taken in oil of turpentine, at 32° Fahr. — Trans. 



