1S6 On the Chemical Constitution of 



receiving the oxygen of the base, and a ternary compound being 

 formed, in which the whole oxygen and the radical of the base 

 observe the due relation to the radical of the acid. And from 

 the quantity of base which phosphorous acid must saturate, this 

 additional proportion of oxygen will be precisely a multiple of 

 that with whifh phosphorus combines. Phosphoric acid appears 

 to be formed in the combustion of phosphorus in oxygen, and must 

 therefore be admitted to exist as an i isulated binary compound. 

 It is further capable, however, of combining, according to the 

 common expression of the result, with a definite proj)ortion of 

 water, that is, with an additional proportion of oxygen, and with 

 hydrogen equivalent to that proportion. The quantity of this 

 has been variously estimated, and does not appear to be very ac- 

 curately determined ; but it will probably be equal to an addi- 

 tional multiple of oxygen, that is about 14 in 100, and then the 

 series of phosphoric compounds will contain oxygen in the ratio 

 of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. If the estimate, however, bv Berthollet and 

 Berthier were correct, which makes the quantity of combined 

 water equal to 25 in 100, it would be equal to 2 multiples; and 

 the series might be 1, 2, o, 4, 6. And if phosphorous acid 

 does not combine directly with the elements of the alkaline bases, 

 but forms, as has been affirmed, partly phosphates, partly phos- 

 phites, the series will be that of 1, 2,4, 6, similar to that of the 

 nitrous compounds. 



In the muriatic compounds, no regular progression has been 

 discovered, considering either muriatic acid, or chlorine, as the 

 first of the series. Some such progression may perhaps, however, 

 be traced. 



Considering muriatic acid as a compound of a radical with 

 oxygen, Berzelius hr.s inferred, from the application of the prin- 

 ciple, that the quantity of oxvgen in an acid is either equal to, 

 or a simple multiple of the quantity of oxvgen in a base which 

 it saturates, that it consists of 41-632 of radical, and 58-368 of 

 oxygen. This applies, however, to what is called tlie real acid 

 free from water, a compound, the existence of which is not proved. 

 Taking the proportion of water, or rather of its elements in hy- 

 dro-muriatic acid into calc^dation, it gives as the composition 

 31-224 of radical, 65*85 1 of oxygen, and 2*925 of hydrogen. 

 The proportion of oxygen to the radical in oxymuriatic acid is 

 the same, the only difference between the two being the pre- 

 sence of hydrogen in muriatic acid ; in oxvmuriatic acid, there- 

 fore, the proportion is 32-164 of radical, with 67*836 of oxygen. 

 The next compound is euchlorinj, composed of 100 of oxymu- 

 riatic acid, with 22-25 of oxvgen ; this is almost exactly the third 

 of the former; the relation is, th.erefore, that of 3, 4. Another 

 gas, wliich has since been discovered by Sir H. Davy, contains a 



much 



