THEORY OF VOLUMES. 59 



Without pretending to decide which of these 

 illustrious experimenters has approximated most 

 nearly to the truth, it would appear from all the 

 lights of modern analysis, that when the atomic 

 numbers shall have been ascertained with perfect 

 accuracy, they will be found to constitute very 

 simple ratios. It is obvious, that if the atomic 

 weight of carbon is 6 times that of hydrogen, 

 oxygen 8, and sulphur 16, the above and many 

 other equivalent numbers of Berzelius cannot be 

 correct ; which is also the case with those of Dr. 

 Turner, who has adopted most of them. Whether 

 this be true or not, the simplicity of the atomic 

 theory, as adopted by the majority of British 

 chemists, has been greatly diminished by the 

 number of decimals which Berzelius has affixed 

 to his atomic weights. I concur most fully with 

 Professor Forbes, in the hope that philosophers 

 may dismiss that superfluity of decimal places 

 which has been recently introduced into several 

 branches of physical science. They have already 

 tended to shake the confidence of some, as to 

 the soundness of the atomic theory. 



The important discovery of Gay-Lussac has 

 been so far extended and verified by the united 

 researches of modern chemists, that it may be 

 regarded as an established law, that all gaseous 

 bodies combine with each other in definite pro- 

 portions by volume, and in accordance with the 

 law of multiples. 



