244 Remarks on a Paper ly Mr. Daltoh 



between bodies, has not been explained ; and the difference be- 

 tween it and chemical union has never been defined or discri- 

 minated by chemists. 



" It appears to me that solution, or that power by which water 

 dissolves or condenses carljonic acid gas, pure ammoniacal gas, 

 sulphureous acid gas ; and that power by which hydrogen dis- 

 solves sulphur and phosphorus ; and also that power by which 

 all the gases dissolve water; and lastly, that by which water dis- 

 solves saline bodies, &c. without changing their nature or pro- 

 perties, is occasioned by a sort of intermediate attraction, not 

 differing much from chemical influence but in its degrees of force, 

 and not at all different from that jjower whereby the planets in- 

 fluence each other." 



There was an idea entertained about this time, that many fiery 

 meteors were occasioned bv the collection and inflammation af- 

 terwards by electricity of hydrogen in the upper regions of the 

 atmosphere. This induced me to make the following experi- 

 ment. I made a mixture of two parts of hydrogen and one of 

 oxygen by measure. With this I filled a jar eighteen inches long 

 and nearly three inches in diameter. This mixture, after having 

 stood in dry quicksilver for nine months, was found to be uni- 

 form througliout the whole column ; for when a small portion of 

 the lower part vvas transferred with little or no agitation, it was 

 wholly condensed into water by the electric spark. 



The rotundity of a bubble of air, whether simple or mixed, 

 shows a strong influence of its atoms or particles on each other : 

 and probably this influence, as I originally supposed, is occasioned 

 by the gravitation of their solid particles towards each other, 

 particularly as thobc j)articles must be in proportion to their dia- 

 meters removed a considerable distance from each other. 



It is remarkable that Mr. Dalton should enumerate the slightest 

 and the most trifling observations of different authors who wrote 

 after me on this subject, and pass over the facts above quoted 

 which must be allowed to be original. Me cannot plead as an 

 excuse that he had not read my Comparative View, after what 

 has lately occurred — No, the omission is evidently wilful. I 

 could expect nothing else. 



It is said that there is a species of depravity peculiar tp hu- 

 man nature — W'lich is, that we hate the person we injure more 

 than any other individual. This is readily accounted for. 



The rest of this paper relates to the different chemical com- 

 binations with azote and oxygen according to the different pro- 

 portions in whicii they unite. He gives the opinion and experi- 

 ments of a great many chemists, who have attempted to prove 

 the quantity of azote and oxygen by weight and measure in the 

 diflfcrent compounds which those elements are capable of forming. 



No 



