166 On definite Proportions. 
dried, in a glass retort, over a spirit lamp, as long as atiy aqueous 
vapours were expelled. ‘The salt, thus dried, had lost 14-5 per 
cent. of its weight. When I dissolved it im nitric acid, and 
added a salt of baryta to the solution, I obtained 8°55 gr. of 
ignited sulphate of baryta, corresponding to 21:28 per cent. of 
sulphuric acid. Consequently this salt consists of 
Sulphuric acid ..... 21°28 100 
Oxidesof copper .... 64°22 3U1°S 
WAGER seis, fave <5 ghee CAO 
The sulphuric acid contains 12-74, the oxide of copper 12°66, 
and the water 12°87 of oxygen; so that each component part 
contains an equal quantity. Consequently in this salt 100 parts 
of sulphuric acid saturate ¢hree times as much oxide of copper as 
in the neutral sulphate. 
3. Subsulphate of the Oxide of Bismuth. 
Mr, Lagerhjelm found, in his experiments on bismuth, that, im 
the sulphate of the protoxide, the acid contains three times as 
much oxygen as the base. I therefore decomposed a quantity 
of the neutral salt by adding water to it, and washed the subsalt, 
which remained undissolved, by the addition of fresh portions of 
water. The salt, being long and thoroughly dried on a sand- 
bath, was then ignited in a crucible of platina, as long as a trace 
of sulphurous acid was disengaged. It had lost 14-5 per cent. 
of its weight, and consequently consists of 
Sulphuric acid... 14°5 100 
Oxide of bismuth, 85:5 590 
But this quantity of sulphuric acid contains 8-685, and the 
oxide of bismuth 8°66 of oxygen : consequently the acid saturates 
three times as much of the base, as in the neutral salt. 
A, Subnitrates and Subnitrites. 
I have already treated, in the Second Continuation of my Essay, 
of the subnitrate, subnitrite, subsubnitrate, and subsubnitrite of 
the protoxide of lead, and of the subnitrate of the oxide of cop- 
per; and | have shown how far they serve to confirm my opinion 
of the composition of nitrogen, as well as the laws which I have 
here laid down for the formation of the subsalts. 
5. Carlonate of the Oxide of Copper. 
Ten grammes of carbonate of the oxide of copper, precipitated 
at the boiling temperature, and dried in the sunshine, being 
ignited in a small glass retort, afforded in the first experiment 
7°16, and in the second 7°17 gr. of black oxide of copper. A 
considerable quantity of water was collected in the receiver. 
Consequently this salt cannot contain so much carbonie acid, as 
te 
EE se 
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