53< iififervai'toni tn Stntitum. 



filvsr, precipitating the firft bUc'ic, the fecond white, and the laft of a fawn-colour. An 

 Cicefs of the barytlc folutioii renders the oxides of lead and filver foluble. 



9. Barytes thus prepared is foluble in aleohol. It is dreadfully poifonous, and kills ani<- 

 iwali. Its mod remarkable and mod cliarafteriftie properties are its extreme cryflallizabi- 

 lity, wliich diflinguifties it from all the other earths hitherto known in chemiftry, and its 

 great folubility in vatcr. 



The difcovery by MclTrs Hope and Klaproth of thefe two latter properties in ftronlian 

 induced us however to tl-.ink for a while, with Citizens Pelletier and Coqucbert, that barytes 

 was fo fimilv to it as that they could not but be confidered as very nearly allied, and per- 

 haps even one and the fame earth ; but having received fome fragments of ftrontianite, of 

 whicli we had not before been enabled to invcftigate the properties ourfelves, we were 

 eager to examine this new cartli comparatively with barytes ; and the refult of this exami- 

 nation, as related in the fecond memoir, which we arc now abflra£ling, fliewed us that, 

 notwithftanding fome very ftrong analogies, thefe two earthy fubftances are really different, 

 as Citizen Pelletier has concluded from his own refearches relative to this fubjeft. The 

 following arc the principal fatts Rated in this fecond memoir. 



Native carbonate of ftrontiau has a fl.ade of light green, which that of barytes has not ; 

 it requires a little more muriatic acid for its folution, and contains more carbonic acid. Mu- 

 riate of ftrontiancryftallizes by cooling, whilft that of barytes cryftallizcs by evaporation : 

 the former in hexagonal prifnis, the latter in inclined plates. The folution of muriate of 

 rtrontian thickens into a jelly by evaporation, whilft that of muriate of barytes dries in cryf- 

 talline plates : the former, which is very foluble in alcohol, makes it burn with a flame of a 

 beautiful purple; the latter, which is almoft infoluble in this liquid, gives it a yellow flame. 



The greatcft and mpft remarkable difference which cxifts between ftrontian and barytes 

 i<, that ftrontian has lefs affinity with acids than barytes, and even than the fixed alkalies; fo 

 that a folution of barytes precipitates muriate of ftrontian in white flocks. 



Nitrate of ftrontian differs from that of barytes ; iftly, in giving more nitrous vapour 

 when decompofed by fire, in confequence of its retaining the nitric acid lefs ftrongly than 

 barytes ; and, idly, in being three times as foluble in water. 



Strontian obtained from its nitrate by the a£llon of fire is lefs harfti than barytes ; it does 

 not fufe in like manner by the blow-pipe, but glitters with a phofphoric flame ; it is almoft 

 ten times lefs foluble in water ; and it feems to be lefs powerful in its attractions than 

 lime, which it does not fepaiale from acids. When precipitated by the oxalic acid, it is not 

 re-diffoWcd by an cxcefs of this acid, as barytes is 5 but the fulphate of ftrontian is on the 

 contrary rcfoluble by an cxccfs of fiilphuric acid, which that of barytes is not. 



The aqueous folution of ftrontian is not precipitated by the gallic acid, whereas tliat of 

 baryted affords with this acid a greenifti precipitate. 



The authors of the.'c memoirs conclude from the Experimeiits (the refults of which arc 

 here ftated) that ftrontian exhibits more properties which arc different from thofe of barytes 

 thanoffuch as arc analogous to them; and that, ftriking as are the latter, it nuift never- 

 thelefs be concluded, from the whole of the phaenomena, that thefe earths are really two 

 different fubftances ; a conclufion wiiichis more particularly evident in refpciiil of their dif- 

 ferent degrees of affinity, and of ftrontian not being a pcifon, whereas barytes is a very 

 >Aive and violent one. 



Several 



