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Mr. C avendish's Experiments on Air, ^79 



nothing elfc than nitrous ac'd united to phlogidon. According 

 to this conclufion, phlogiftlcaced air' onglit to he reduced to 

 nitrous acid hy being deprived ot its piiloglfton. But as de^ 

 phlogifticatcd air is only water deprived of phlogifton, it is 

 plain, that adding dcphJooKVicatcd air to a body, is equivalent 

 to depriving it of phloglllon, and adding water to it; and 

 tlierefore, phlogidicated air ought alfo to be reduced to nitrous 

 acid, by being made to unite to, or form a chemical combina-' 

 tion with, dephlogifticated air ; only the acid formed this \ta^ 

 will be more dilute, than if the phlogifticated air was Tmiply 

 deprived of phlogifton. 



This being premifed, we may fafely conclude, th:it in the 

 prefent experiments the phlogifticated air was enabled, bj 

 means of the electrical fpark, to unite ta, or form a chemical 

 combiDation with, the dephlogifticated air, and was thereby 

 reduced to nitrous acid, which united to. the foap-iees, and 

 formed a folution of nitre; for in thefe experiments thofe two 

 airs afluallj difappeared, and nitrous acid was actually formed 

 in their room; and as, moreover, it has juft been fhewn, from 

 C)ther circumftances, that phlogifticated air muft form nitrous acid^ 

 when eom.bined with dephlogifticated air, the above-mentioned 

 opinion feems to be fufficiently eftabliftied. A further confirma- 

 tion of it is, that, as- far as I can perceive, no diminution- of air is 

 produced when the eleflric fpark is pafted either through pure 

 dephlogifticated air, or through perfectly phlogifttcated air;, 

 which indicates the necefftty of a combination of thefe two 

 airs to produce the acid. Moreover, it was found in the lafl 

 experiment, that the quantity of nitre procured was the.-> fame 

 that the foap-lees would have produced if faturated witb ni- 

 trous acid ; which (hews, that the production of the: nicre'^^va^ 

 not owing to any decompofitlon of the foap-lees, 



Jt 



