348 Dr. Murray onl/ie Chemical Constitution of [N,ov. 



and in the salts the oxygen and the radical of the base are. in 

 their due proportions to the radical of the- acid. In the coniver- 

 sion of the one into the other, there is merely the substitution of 

 the radical of the base for the hydrogen of the acid, and the 

 abstraction of that portion of oxygen with which the former was 

 combined, and the formation of a portion of water equivalent to 

 this. In the formation of a neutral salt from the union of a 

 binary acid, there is simply the production of a ternary combi- 

 nation in which the proportion of oxygen to the radical of the 

 acid is increased by that of the base. And the difference in the 

 salts formed by the binary and ternary acids of the same radical 

 is in the quantity of oxygen being a higher multiple in those of 

 the latter than in those of the former ; so that the addition or 

 abstraction of that portion of oxygen converts the one into the 

 other. 



There is every reason to infer, that in the ternary acids, and 

 the ternary alkaline bases, while the due relation of oxygen to 

 the radical, and of hydrogen to the radical, exists, there will be 

 a similar relation in the hydrogen and oxygen to each other. 

 These two elements combine only in the proportion of 1 to 7*5. 

 But there may be other proportions multiples or submultiples of 

 these, in which they exert mutual actions, though they do not 

 in conformity to them form binary combinations, and they may 

 exist under the influence of such actions in ternary combina- 

 tions. In hydrosulphuric acid the quantity of oxygen in relation 

 to the hydrogen present is four times the quantity of oxygen 

 which constitutes the composition of water. And this may be a 

 relation actually existing, independent of the others, that is, 

 while the oxygen in the proportion in which it is present, acts 

 on the sulphur, and the hydrogen acts on the sulphur, the 

 oxygen and hydrogen likewise act on each other; and these 

 actions are in equilibrium constituting the sulphuric acid. And 

 in all these ternary compounds at least, the elements may exist 

 in these uniform relations instead of any of them being in any 

 case in intermediate proportions. In like manner, in the com- 

 pound 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 neither 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 example, 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. The quantities must 

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

 the state of neutralization remains.* 



!_ * Under (hesc principle?, tile laws given by Berzelins with regard to the quan- 

 tity of combined water in acids and in bases, and the proportion which the oxygen 

 in an acid bears to the oxygen of an oxide with which it combines, which some 

 havb regarded merely as empirical, and which others have denied, are explained. 



