370 On the Origin of the Atomic Theory. 



presented by diagrams; the energy of union gradually and re- 

 gularly diminishes from the minimum to the maximum state of 

 oxygenation. Each of the atoms of even the nitrous and nitric 

 acids in tlie liquid mass are distinct from one another, as being 

 surrounded with their respective atmospheres of caloric. 



When the foregoing compounds produced !)y the union of azote 

 and oxygen are mixed, a partial decomposition takes place, and 

 the oxygen is divided between them ; but that which contains 

 1 and 2 can take none from 1 and 3, but it will take from 

 1 and 4, and 1 and 5, or 1 and 3 can take from 1 and 5, but 

 not from 1 and 4. 



Nothing could be more easy than to deduce the weight of 

 those atoms from the relative weights of their constituent gases. 



This arrangement and calculation of the force of union of the 

 constituent elements of the nitrous gas, of nitrous acid and nitric 

 acid, enabled me at that remote period to demonstrate with ma- 

 thematical accuracy all the chemical effects produced on those 

 acids by ir.flammable bodies, whicli were not understood before. 



Nitrous Acid ajid Potash. 



A single atom of nitrous or nitric acid unites to a single atom 

 of potash, and this molecule is surrounded with an atmosphere 

 of caloric which renders each molecule in the saline mass inde- 

 pendent of each other. This holds good with respect to all 

 other saline substances. 



Metals and Oxygen. 



The ultimate particles of a metal unite with different doses 

 of oxygen : the first dose is retained with greater force than the 

 second ; and this last with greater force than a third dose. Tin 

 was adduced as an example in my Comparative View. 



Metals and Acids. 



Metals, or rather their oxides, unite with acids atom and atom 

 so as to form molecules, and the force of union depends on the 

 kind of metal. I have shown that the metals first unite to oxy- 

 gen, and that their ultimate particles are supphed with it at the 

 expense of the water, or of a portion of the acid itself. To il- 

 lustrate this point diagrams were produced. 



The precipitation of some metals in their metallic state from 

 their solution in acids by other metals had been explained upon 

 strict mathematical principles, by means of diagrams, and each 

 ultimate particle was allowed its full force and effect in the ope- 

 ration, agreeably to the laws of the atomic doctrine. When one 

 metal precipitates another tn^tal from its solution m^semi state 



of 



