\VITH THE MAIUNE ACID; 373 



ftutc they refufeto unite; but deftroy tlic cohe- 

 fion of their parts, and they combine without 

 difficulty ; for the acid diflblves the mercury 

 when either converted into vapour or precipita- 

 ted from a nitrous folution. Mercury is given 

 by itfelfas a medicine, with fafety, and itsefiica- 

 cy then depends folcly upon its own operation : 

 but, again, when it is joined with the marine 

 acid, the parts being no longer in conta6t with 

 each othcr,the attractive force by which they were 

 united, operates in a new direction, and carries 

 them, with a violent impulfe, upon the bodies 

 to which they arc mod contiguous. Hence the 

 corrolivc force of the fublimatcd mercury, which 

 in proportion to its fupcrior gravity, is more vio- 

 lent in its adion than other poifons. But, when 

 mercury is combined in a larger proportion with 

 the fame quantity of marine ocid t the particles 

 of the metal approach nearer to each other; 

 and their power of producing changes upon o- 

 ther bodies is thereby gradually diminished, till 

 they become at length ulmoft incapable of oper- 

 ating as reagents. Sweet mercury is the re- 

 fult. 



$ xxix. "fbc various Ufcs of Mercurial Sttts. 



THK mercurial falts above defcribed are ufc- 



ful, not only as medicines, but likcwifc in tho 



arts. Kunkel bellows lavifh praifes on that 



A a 3 mercury 



