DOCTRINE OF ELECTIVE ATTRACTIONS. 131 



tion, Z, m, (lime and muriatic acid,) though s has 

 a greater affinity for P than for L, yet the sum of 

 the attractions of P to m, and of L to s, is greater 

 than that of the original compounds, and therefore 

 if the two combinations are brought together, the 

 new compounds, P, m, and L, s, are formed. 



The Table of Elective Attractions, modified by 

 Bergman in pursuance of these views, and corrected 

 according to the advanced knowledge of the time, 

 became still more important than before. The next 

 step was to take into account the quantities of the 

 elements which combined; but this leads us into 

 a new train of investigation, which was, indeed, a 

 natural sequel to the researches of Geoffroy and 

 Bergman. 



In 1803, however, a chemist of great eminence, 

 Berthollet, published a work, (Essai de Statique 

 Chimique,) the tendency of which appeared to be 

 to throw the subject back into the condition in 

 which it had been before Geoffroy. For Berthollet 

 maintained that the rules of chemical combination 

 were not definite, and dependent on the nature of 

 the substances alone, but indefinite, depending on 

 the quantity present, and other circumstances. 

 Proust answered him, and as Berzelius says 4 , " Ber- 

 thollet defended himself with an acuteness which 

 makes the reader hesitate in his judgment ; but the 

 great mass of facts finally decided the point in 



4 Chem., t. iii. p. 23. 



K2 



