THEORY OF FREEZING MIXTURES. 241 



universal solvent of nature, and that solution is 

 strictly a chemical process, it would be needless 

 to insist that the strong acids owe all their che- 

 mical properties to the heat which is combined 

 with their atoms. Like all other liquids, they 

 are solidified by the abstraction of caloric, and 

 when frozen, their burning caustic properties 

 are greatly impaired, together with their powers 

 of combining with other bodies.* 



It may be regarded as a fundamental axiom 

 in science, that the laws of nature are uniform 

 throughout her boundless dominions, and through 

 all her diversified changes and revolutions ; and 

 that the same effects must be ascribed to the same 



*JLs 



cause. 



Whatever hypothesis is opposed to this great 

 principle, should be at once rejected as un- 

 sound. 



Some modern philosophers, of high reputa- 



* When this subject shall have been more fully investigated, 

 it will be found that the melting point of tin, bismuth, and lead, 

 when united into an alloy, is reduced for the same reason that 

 the melting point of chloride of sodium, chloride of calcium, 

 potass, and other salts, is lowered on mixing them with snow. 

 This would appear from the fact, that when 217 grains of lead, 

 118 of tin, and 284 of bismuth, are finely powdered and mixed 

 with 1617 grains of mercury, the temperature of the mass falls 

 from 64 to 18 F, proving that there is a transition of caloric 

 from one to the other which is true, in fact, of all chemical 

 changes. Besides, when 3 parts lead, 2 of tin, and 5 of bis- 

 muth are pulverized and mixed together, they melt at 197<> F. 



