INERTIA OF MINERALS. 519 



than the deutoxide ; and so on till we come to 

 nitric acid, which is composed of five atoms 

 oxygen to one of azote, and may be decomposed 

 with great facility. But I have shewn that the 

 quantity of caloric around the particles of 

 alcohol, aether, nitric acid, &c., is in proportion 

 to the number of atoms that enter into their 

 composition, cceteris paribus. It is therefore not 

 true, that the disposition of organized bodies 

 to run into new combinations is owing merely to 

 their elements not being united in definite pro- 

 portions, or to their not being saturated, as 

 maintained by Tiedmann and others ; for the 

 elements of sugar, alcohol, and many other 

 similar compounds, are as completely satu- 

 rated as those of water, carbonic acid, or the 

 earths and alkalies, which are so difficult to de- 

 compose. 



Corresponding with the simple binary compo- 

 sition of minerals, they are of uniform structure 

 throughout ; and when once formed, their indi- 

 vidual existence depends on the repose of their 

 particles. What they are when first aggregated, 

 they remain until destroyed. They may be en- 

 larged by accretion, and diminished by attrition, 

 but they have no organs of nutrition, secretion, 

 or reproduction ; no origin by birth, no renewal 

 of their composition, and no termination by 

 death. Being composed of the more ponderous 

 elements, or binary combinations of them, they 



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