190 On the Chemical Coiistilu/.ion of ^ 



oxygen in the proportion in which it is present, acts on the sul- 

 phur, and tlie hydrogen acts on the sulphur, the oxygen and iiy- 

 drogen hkewise act on each other ; and these actions are in 

 equilibrium consisting the sulphuric acid. And in all these ter- 

 nary com))ounds at least, the elements mav exist in these uniform 

 relations, instead of any of them being in anv case in intermediate 

 proportions. In like manner, in the compound salts, the two 

 radicals, that of the acid and that of the base, will observe their 

 due relation in proportions to each other. 



In the neutral salts, then, there exists neifher acid nor alkali ; 

 and their decomposition is merely the transfer of the radical of 

 the base in the one to the radical of the acid of the other. The 

 decomposition, for exam|)le, of nitrate of barytes by sulphate of 

 potash, consists in the transfer of barium to sulphur and oxygen, 

 and of potassium to nitrogen and oxygen. Th.e quantities must 

 be equivalent to each other ; and hence the law of Richter, that 

 the state of neutralization remains*. 



In the mutual action of acids and salifiable bases with regard 

 to saturation, the simple rule will be, that in all cases an acid will 

 saturate that quantity of a base, t'ne radical of which is in the 

 equivalent weight to the radical of the acid. And the quantity 

 of oxygen in the salt v.-ill be that which constitutes. the usual pro- 

 portion of that element to the radical of the acid. 



The capacity of saturation in the different acids and bases, in 

 their reciprocal action, has been jjroposed as a measure of the 

 force of affinity which they exert, those acids being inferred to 

 have the strongest attractions to the salifiable bases, which in the 

 smallest quantities saturate a given weight of tliese bases; and 

 the same rule being applied to the attraction of the bases to the 

 acids. The capacity of saturation, however, depends altogether 

 on a different cause, — on the relations of the n)ore remote ele- 

 ments to each other, and not any direct action of acid and base. 

 A larger quantity of barytes is necessary to saturate a given weight 

 of the different acids than of potash, not because barytes has a. 

 weaker action on acids than potash has, but because the com- 

 bining weight of barium is greater than tliat of potassium, and it 

 combines, therefore, in larger (luantity with the radicals of the 

 acids ; and conversely, a larger (luantity of sulphuric than of car- 

 bonic acid is necessary to saturate a given weight of the different 

 bases, not because its affmity to them is less powerful, but be- 



* Under these jirlnciples, the laws given by Berzelius with regard to the 

 quantity of combined water in acids and in bases, and the })ro;)ortion which 

 the oxygen in an acid bears to the oxygen of an oxide with which it com- 

 bines, which some have regarded merely as empirical, and which otheis have 

 denied, arc explained. They follow indeed necessarily from the relations in 

 the combining weights of the elements, when these are considered as in si- 

 multaneous combination. 



cause 



