on oxy sulphuretted Muriatic Add. 375 



parts of oxygen which were found, can be attributed to the sul- 

 phur, in which I have intimated a doubt of the natural existence 

 of oxygen as not being vet directly proved, and as not being ca- 

 pable of existing in a proportion exceeding 17 per cent., nor fo 

 the carbon, as it was not observed to be developed by Lampadlus 

 or Bepthollet ; nor from the atmospheric air, which was expelled 

 previous tocommencing the experiment; and even had it not been 

 5o, the whole capacity of the apparatus was not such as to con- 

 tain so much oxygen, combined in tiie proportion in which it 

 exists in the atmosphere. Recalling to mind the diminution of 

 the 181 parts of muriatic ^cid, shall it not be permitted to doubt 

 that the oxygen proceeded from some decom,positicn of this sub- 

 stance, of which the other elements being unobserved, their nature 

 is unknown ? Who would again offer tlie hypothesis that ma- 

 riatic acid may be composed of hydrogen and oxvgen, and that 

 it differs from water only by the different proportions of its con- 

 stituent parts? If it were permitted to think thus, we should 

 doubt that in decomposing it might have yielded water, the for- 

 mation of which we could not perceive, not having first weighed 

 the water in the vessel, and some free oxygen that combining 

 with the carbon had produced the extra carbonic acid gas, of 

 which we have already spoken. We recommend to chemists 

 the facts here stated, while we request their indulgence with re- 

 spect to the above hypothesis; declaring that we are not fanatical 

 framers of new systems, but only desirous of accumulating facts 

 from which the most ingenious of the age may deduce new 

 theories*. 



LXIV. On 



* Observation by the Translator. — Marquis Ridolfi is one of the vei*y few 

 Florentine nobles who devote their attention to the sciences; and hence, per- 

 haps, we may discover more causes than reasons for some of the opinions 

 ct>ntainedin this memoir. It is evident that the author began his researcl'Cs 

 not so much like an inquirer after truth, as with the view of confirming 

 some preconceived opinions which analytical experiments have proved, if 

 not altogether erroneous, at least of a very equivocal character. To this 

 sentiment must be ascribed such a series of facts and deductions founded 

 en a single experiment with phosphorus, although the labours of Professor 

 Branchi were surely sufficient to prove how little dependence should be 

 placed on our actual knowledge of this body and its relations with others. 

 Professor Brugnatelli is evidently of an opinion very different from that of 

 the author; and in a comprehensive exposition of Berthollet's candid state- 

 ment of his conversion to Sir H. Davy's theory of chlorine, clearly shows 

 tiiat nearly all the facts and circumstances which Ridolfi adduces, may be 

 explained without admitting the unproved assertion of its containing oxy- 

 gen. If indeed the Marquis Ridolfi's position be just, — that it cannot be 

 proved by analysis to be a compound body, — no argument, a priori, should 

 be admitted to the contrary from synthesis : — if it cannot be decomposed, 

 all our knowledge and logical reasoning sanction the induction that it is »im- 



A a 4 pie. 



