GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 4(>9 



16. Before concluding these general observa- inquiry 



r* t into the ac- 



tions, 1 may say a few words respecting Berze- curacy of 

 lius' law, that " in all salts the atoms of oxygen 

 in the acid constitute a multiple by a whole law ' 

 number of the atoms of oxygen in the base." 

 This law was founded upon the first set of exact 

 analyses of neutral salts which Berzelius made. 

 Now, as neutral salts in general are combinations 

 of an atom of a protoxide with an atom of an 

 acid, it is obvious that the atoms of oxygen in the 

 acid must in all such salts be multiples of the 

 atom of oxygen in the base ; because every 

 whole number is a multiple of unity. Neutral 

 salts, therefore, are not the kind of salts by means 

 of which the precision of this supposed law can 

 be put to the test. 



Even in the subsalts, composed of 1 atom of 

 acid united to 2 atoms of base, it is obvious 

 enough, that the law will hold whenever the 

 acid combined with the base happens to contain 

 2 or 4, or any even number of atoms ; because 

 all even numbers are multiples of 2. Now, this 

 is the case with the following acids : 



Phosphoric, Nitrous, Antimonic, Citric, 



Carbonic, Titanic, Manganesic, Saclactic, 



Boracic, Arsenious, Molybdous, Chromotis. 



Sulphurous, Selenic, Uranitic, 



Consequently, the law must hold good in all 



Gg3 



