General Principles. 4-3 



substances to which it can impart the acid cha- 

 racter are those which Lavoisier calls acidifiable 

 or salifiable bases ; of the simple substances these 

 are, nitrogen, phosphorus, sulphur, carbon, the 

 muriatic radical, together with a few of the 

 earths and metals *. 



Oxygen, however, is not always combined in 

 the same quantity with the same matter ; whence 

 a distinction is made by the modern chemists, 

 marked by the terminations ous and ic. Thus 

 sulphurous, nitrous, or phosphorous acid mean 

 the substance combined with a smaller proportion 

 of oxygen ; and sulphuric, nitric, or phosphoric 

 acid mean the combination carried to the highest 

 point of saturation. 



From this distinction with respect to the acids 

 arises another, which relates to the compound 

 salts into which they enter. Thus the com- 

 pound salts formed by those acids which termi- 

 nate in ous are marked by the termination ite. 

 Thus we have sulphites, phosphites, &c. Those 

 which result from a combination with the acids 

 ending in ic 9 or the full or strong acid, are 

 marked by the termination at. Thus we have 

 sulphats, phosphats, &c. &c. 



Oxygen, we have also seen, combines with 

 the metals, destroying the metallic lustre, and 

 giving them an earthy appearance. This pro- 

 duct was formerly called a calx, or cinder; but 



* It will be hereafter seen that oxygen is not the only 

 acidifying principle. 



