174 



CHEMICAL TliEORY. 



Dissertation on the next set of substances which we may notice, is what 



the natuie and , , n , i n , • ■ 



«-f!«cts of heat, '^^^''^ "^^i^ called (ienaffratinw or (ictonating suDstaaces. these 



lui,ht^ nnd com- are necessarily quaternary, many of iheni quinary compounds. 



bustion. , • , V , r , 1 



and contain the four substances necesbary tor combustion, and 



nre hence inflammable in close vessels, without being in con- 

 tact with oxigen pas, tkey contain a siipporter and an inflame 

 mable, or, as we may otherwise spealc, oxigen, li<:'ht, the base 

 <vf an inflammable, and heat. A mixture of oxigen an<i hy- 

 drogen is an example of this kind, and so is gunpowder, the 

 araraoriiureta argenti, and auri, and other fulminating com- 

 positions. These immediately explode on the approach of the 

 electric fluid, and two of their component parts escape, viz. 

 the light and heat. One fa,rther instance I shall mention of 

 the action of a supporter of combustion on an inflammable 

 substance. Oximuriatic acid being mixed with ammoniu, 

 both, in their gaseous forms, have a remarkable action on each 

 other. The first is a compound of hydrogen, oxigen, and 

 liglht; the latter of hydrogen, azote, and heat. In this case 

 an attraction exists between the bases of the combustibles 

 which form the muriatic acid and the ammonia, the heat and 

 light escaping, as well as the azote, which is set free. From 

 this experiment it may not appeslr strange that muriaticacid 

 }ias been detected in pas.sing galvanism through water. ■ 



We have now given our opinion with respect to the nature 

 of the electric and galvanic fluids, and endeavoured to prove 

 the truth of it from certain efi'ccts, which it produces oil 

 different substances ; from hence it may appear that it is 

 entirely dependant on chemical changes, and upon the action 

 which diflisrent bodies have on each other. It appears to 

 rac, to be nothing more than an action of a supjTorter of 

 combustion on a combustible body; for we find that in 

 every galvanic apparatus there is an oxidable metal, a sub- 

 stance capable of oxidating it, and what may be called a con* 

 ductor, which has the power of conveying off the electric mat* 

 ter produced by this chemical action, and it remains for future 

 experiments to prove that every such chemical action really 

 does produce electric matter, which if performed in proper 

 apparatus might be as evident as that from the trough or 

 pile. 



From 



