ON GALVANlS\f. 175 



much more fpace than the fubftances from which It is formed? General effefts 



Does it not feem an alTiimption to fay that the two conditions anj^t^ieory of 



of oxygen in the aeriform llate, and oxygen in the fohd ftate, ^^ ^"^ ' 



as in nitre, fliould hold the fame quantity precifeiy of heat and 



light? This fa6t difproves the opinion that the production of 



heat and light is commenfurate with the condenfation that takes 



place in combuftion. 



An eftablilhed law of chemical affinity would be reverfed, 

 if oxygen, when in combination with another fubftance, were 

 to have a greater, or even the fame attraction for the matter of 

 heat as it has when oxygen is fimply combined with the matter 

 of heat. 



There are many Inftances of combuftion, deflagration, &c. 

 wherein the compounds formed feem to hold more heat in their 

 compofition after than before combuftion. When gun -powder 

 is inflamed, does not the production of fteam feem to fliew that 

 a great quantity of heat is generated during the explofion. If 

 the matter of heat was held to the particles of the component 

 parts of gun-power, in confequence of their great capacity 

 for containing it, (liould we have any reafon by analogy toful- 

 pe6l that the eleftric fpark would entirely reverfe the order of 

 the exifting attradlions? Have we not evidence of the accu- 

 mulation of one power of the pile in nitrous and muriatic falts, 

 ior in the formation of their acids we do not find combuftion 

 to be neceflary, and there is no known expenditure of this 

 their igneous principle. Thefe are the falls which caufe the 

 combuftion of inflammable bodies, and burn them, in confe- 

 quence of their both containing igneous and inflammable prin- 

 ciples. Thus docs it appear that fire is generated during com- 

 buftion. 



From all the obfervations and experiments I have made on 

 (his fubjed, I conclude that water is ftill to be confidered as a 

 fimple fubftance, that its two afllimcd component parts are 

 non-entities, that fire is generated in e^ery fpecies of com- 

 buftion, whether by acids or othervvife, and that heat is gene- 

 rated in the lungs during refpiration, I take the liberty alio 

 to fuggeft, that the admiflion of the hypothetical fubftances of 

 the Lavoifierian fyftem may have retarded the progrefs of fci- 

 ence, by diverting the mind from real objeCts. Analogies 

 drawn from imaginary data muft tend to perplex and confound, 

 and thus do names arife without exifting realities. Perhaps it 



would 



