PROPORTIONS DETERMINATE. 



is; 



nato. 



Uined concerning the interior constitution of bodies 

 were coarse, as well as quite imaginary. A m 

 fined spirit of philosophy rejected and turned them in- 

 to ridicule. Kant, the far-famed philosopher of Ko- 

 nil^bcrx, founded a system altogether new, maintain- 

 ing that the existence fall things depends on two op- 

 pojite forces, the one of which, acting by itself, would 

 concentrate all the matter of the universe into a mathe- 

 matical point ; whilst the other, on a similar supposi- 

 tion, would diffuse it to an infinite extent. The 

 struggle of these two forces constitutes matter, the di- 

 vi-rsities of which result from the different proportions 

 of those two opposite powers. This system has been 

 named that of Dualism, or the Dualistic system. Whilst 

 admiring the sagacity with which the author has de- 

 velopedliis system, rendered still more striking by the 

 posterior electro-chemical discoveries, which are almost 

 foreseen by it; one cannot avoid astonishment at this 

 entire annihilation of matter. The genius of Kant soon 

 awakened a crowd of philosophic minds, possessing 

 more or less elevation, who continued to philosophise 

 on the subjects connected with chemistry and physics, 

 and erected what they called a Philosophy of Nature, 

 (Naiur-Philosopkif in German.) Nearly all these phi- 

 losophers were destitute of knowledge in the sciences, 

 which by & priori speculations they undertook to re- 

 form ; they endeavoured to supply the want of real in- 

 formation by systems of anticipations. At the time 

 when a philosophy resembling in some respects a con- 

 tagious malady of the soul, had thus infected a multi- 

 tude of understandings, particularly in Germany, Mr. 

 Dalton appeared with his atoms ; but, in contrast with 

 Kant, neglecting to adopt in his system the forces on 

 which those combinations depend, and considering no- 

 thing but matter alone. Whilst in the system of Kant 

 every thing is impenetrable, every thing, with Dalton, 

 is mere juxta-position among certain figures which he 

 attempts to trace. At first, therefore, no attention was 

 paid to this latter system ; but Dr. Thomson, an Eng- 

 lish chemist, of high celebrity as an author, by pub- 

 lishing the opinions of Dalton in his writings, and 

 showing what might be their real value, contributed 

 greatly to produce a favourable impression on the 

 public. And thus, notwithstanding the sneers of a pre- 

 tended spirit of philosophy, though stigmatized as rude, 

 because they rendered things palpable, so to speak, 

 yet here and there atomic ideas and the corpuscular 

 theory took root, and the labours we have just survey- 

 ed were the result. 



Dr. Thomson adopted the atomic ideas of Mr. Dal- 

 ton ; he has applied them to the chemical system ; 

 and given, in the journal which he edits, a statement 

 of the weight of the molecules, in several substances, 

 simple as well as compound. Like Berzelius and 

 Wollaston, he disagrees with Dalton in putting the 

 weight of oxygen = 1.000. * 



1 Oxygen 



2 Chlorine 

 .3 Iodine 



4- Hydrogen 

 5 Carbon 

 ti Boron 

 7 Silicon 



Weight of an Atom. 

 1-000 

 4-500 

 15-625 

 0-125 

 0-750 

 0-875 

 1-000 



8 Phosphorus . 



. /ote 



10 Sulphur 



11 Tellurium 



12 Arsenic 



13 Potassium 

 1 \f Sodium 



15 Calcium 



16 Barium 



17 Strontium 



18 Magnesium 



19 Potash 



20 Soda 



21 Lime 



22 Barytcs 



23 Strontian 

 - 1- Magnesia 



25 Yttrium 



26 Yttria 



27 Glucinum 



28 Glucina 



29 Aluminum 



30 Alumina 



31 Zirconium 



32 Zirconia 



33 Iron 



34 Protoxide of iron 



35 Peroxide of iron 



36 Nickel 



37 Protoxide of nickel 



38 Peroxide of nickel 



39 Cobalt 



4-0 Protoxide of cobalt 

 4-1 Peroxide of cobalt 



42 Manganese 



43 Protoxide of manganese 



44 Peroxide of manganese 



45 Uranium . * 



46' Protoxide of uranium 



47 Peroxide of uranium 



48 Cerium 



49 Protoxide of cerium 



50 Peroxide of cerium 



51 Zinc 



62 Oxide of zinc . . 



53 Lead 



54 Protoxide of lead 



55 Peroxide of lead 



56 Tin 



57 Protoxide of tin 



58 Peroxide of tin 



59 Copper . , . 



60 Protoxide of copper 



61 Peroxide of copper 



62 Bismuth 



63 Oxide of bismuth 



64 Mercury 



65 Protoxide of mercury 



66 Peroxide of mercury 



67 Silver 



68 Oxide of silver 



69 Gold 



70 Prqtoxide of gold . 



71 Peroxide of gold 



Weight ofn Atom. 



1-500 



1-750 

 . 8OOO 



4-000 



4-750 

 . 5-000 



3-000 

 . 2-625 



8750 



5-500 



j .-,00 



6-000 

 4-000 



8 625 



9-750 



6-500 

 . 2-500 



4-000 



5-000 



2-250 



3250 



1-125 



2-125 



4-625 ? 



5-625 f 



3500 



4-500 

 10-000 



3-375 



4-365 



9-750 



3-625 



4-625 

 10-250 



3-500 



4-500 



5-500 

 15-625 

 16-625 

 34-250 



5-750 



6750 

 14-500 



4-125 



. 5-125 



13OOO 



14-000 



15-000 



7-375 



8-375 



9-375 

 . 8-000 



9-000 

 . 10-000 



8-875 



9-875 

 25-OCO 

 26-000 

 27-000 

 13-75O 

 14-750 

 24-875 

 25-875 

 27-875 



Propor- 

 tion*, 



I>eirrnn. 

 nite- 



* In place of inserting here the Tables published by Dr. Thomson, in the Annals of PMIotophy, voL n. iii. IT. and v, we have cirfn 

 the more correct one* which he published in 1818, in the xiith volume of that work. Eo. 



