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CHAPTER III. 



Chemical Solution. 



** Veniet tempus quo posteri nostri apperta DOS nescisse mi- 

 renter." SENECA. 



THE vast importance of chemical solution is 

 sufficiently obvious when we reflect, that it is 

 immediately connected with all the most im- 

 portant operations of nature. Could we take in 

 at one view the whole system of nature, we 

 should behold throughout, one vast theatre of 

 solution and crystallization, of decomposition 

 and recombination. 



We should perceive that the atmosphere al- 

 ways contains an immense quantity of water 

 diffused through it in a state of invisible trans- 

 parent solution, until it meets with colder cur- 

 rents of air, when it is condensed and precipitated 

 in the form of rain, snow, or hail, by the ab- 

 straction of its solvent principle ; that all lakes, 

 rivers, and springs, contain greater or less pro- 

 portions of the rocks, salts, and metals that 

 compose the crust of the earth through which 

 they pass, in a state of chemical solution ; that 

 are carried down by running water and depo- 



Q 



