

JG2 ARRANGEMENT OF THE ELEMENTS IN COMPOUNDS. 



exhibited in a separate state, and is believed to be capable of 

 existing only in a state of combination. 



It is evident that the same view is applicable to hydrated 

 oxygen acids in general, which may be made hydrogen acids, 

 by assuming the existence of a new radical for each, containing 

 an atom more of oxygen than the oxygen acid itself, and 

 capable of combining directly with hydrogen and the metals. 

 The class of oxygen-acid salts is thus abolished, and they 

 become binary compounds like the chlorides and cyanides. 

 Even oxygen-acids themselves can no longer be recognized. 

 It is not sulphuric acid (SO 3 ), but what was formerly viewed as 

 its compound with water, that is the acid, and it is a hydrogen 

 acid. The properties which characterize acids are undoubtedly 

 only observed in the hydrates of the oxygen acids. Thus the 

 anhydrous sulphuric acid does not redden litmus, and exhibits 

 a disposition to combine with salts, such as chloride of potas- 

 sium and sulphate of potash, rather than with bases. The 

 liquid carbonic acid has little affinity for water, does not com- 

 bine directly with lime, but dissolves in alcohol, ether and es- 

 sential oils like certain neutral bodies. It is only when asso- 

 ciated with water that the bodies referred to exhibit acid pro- 

 perties, and then hydrogen acids may be produced. 



On this view, it is obvious that the acid and salt are really 

 bodies of the same constitution, hydrochloric acid being the 

 chloride of hydrogen, as common salt is the chloride of sodium, 

 and sulphuric acid and sulphate of soda, being the sulphatoxides 

 of hydrogen and of sodium. The acid reaction and sour taste 

 are not peculiar to the hydrogen compound and do not separate 

 it from the others, the chloride, sulphatoxide and nitratoxide of 

 copper being nearly as acid and corrosive as the chloride, 

 sulphatoxide and nitratoxide of hydrogen, and clearly bodies of 

 the same character and composition. They are all equally 

 salts in constitution. The theory in question, therefore, is 

 truly a theory of salts, and might be distinguished as " the 

 theory of Binary Salts," or some such name, with more pro- 

 priety than the theory of hydrogen acids. The term " acid" 

 is not absolutely required for any class of bodies included in 

 the theory, and might, therefore, be dropt, if it were not that 

 an inconvenience would be felt in having no common name 

 for the hydrogen compounds, which have so many common 

 uses. But overlooking this consideration, the supporters of 



