A C I 



AC T 



With fim- 

 p]e ra- 

 dicals. 



With dou- 

 ble ra- 

 dicals. 



Bafis. 

 ^'u/jt/jiir - 



Azof 

 Phofpho- 



rus 

 Cnrlrm 

 Arj'imc - 

 Molybdciia 

 Chrome - 



Carlon 

 and Hy- 

 drogen 

 in dif- 

 ferent 

 propor- 

 tions. 



States of Oxygenation. 



2d. 

 Sulphuric 



111. 

 Sulphu- 

 reous - 

 Nitrous - 

 Phofpho. 

 reous - 



Arfeiiious 



.V'- 



Nitric 

 Phofpho- 



ric 

 Carbonic 

 Arfenic 

 Molybdic 

 Chromic 



' Acetous - Acetic 

 Tartaric 

 Citric 

 Oxalic 

 Malic 

 Gallic 

 Benzoic 

 Succinic 

 Saccho- 

 laaic 

 Formic 

 Sebacic ? 



' Carlon, 

 Hyilro- 

 gi'ti, and 

 A%ut. 



Prufllc 

 Lithic 



M\iriatic - 



Fluoric 



Boracic 



Oxymu- 

 - riatic 



With tri- 

 ple ra ■ • 

 dicals. 



With un- 

 known ■ 

 radicals. 



The chemifts of the laft century feem to have been 

 acquainted only with the three mineral acids, as they are 

 called, viz. the fulphurlc, nitric, and muriatic, and with the 

 ncetous acid or vinegar : the accuracy and induftry of the 

 inoderns have increafcd the number of fpecies to twenty-nine ; 

 how many more may be hereafter added to the liil it is 

 impoflible to afcertain. Without adverting to the poffi- 

 liility of difcovering new acidifiable bafts, it is by no means 

 improbable, hov.-ever, that many of the fimple corabuftible 

 bodies as the metals, or the compound ones as pholphoratcd 

 hydrogen, fulphurated hydrogen, the metallic phofphurets, 

 &c. may be fo far faturated with oxygen, as to become pe- 

 cvdiar acids. 



The charaAeriilic properties of acids, /. e. the peculiar 

 laws and effedls of their action on other chemical fub- 

 ftances, yet remain to be mentioned. 



1. When taken into the mouth they occafion a four tafte. 

 The oxymuriatic acid alone is deilitute of this property ; 



the reft poliefs it in a greater or lefs degree according to 

 their liquid or folid form, and the energy with which they 

 aft on the animal fibre, from the coiTofive and intcnfcly four 

 fulphuric acid, to the boracic, wliofc talte can fcarcely be 

 perceived, 



2. They change native vegetable blues to red. 



Indigo is not turned red by any acid, nor does turncfol 

 paper yield to fome of the weakeft ones, but both, ihefe pig- 

 ments are artificial ; the fulphureoua and oxymuriatic acid 

 difcharge entirely the native vegetable bluts, not ho\vever 

 before having changed them to red. 



3. They liave a llronger affinity for alkalies than thefe 

 have for any othec fnbitance. Therefore, all the foluble 

 combinations of alkalies with, metallic oxyds, with earths, 

 %vith fuiphur, S:c. ars decompofed by any acid. 



4. They combine with earths, with alkalies, nnd with 

 metallic oxyds, forming the numerous and very ijnportaiit 



Vot. 1. 



clalTes of earthy, n:utral, and metallic falls, moll of whick 

 are fufceptlble of cryllallization. 



5. The property of incombiiftibility has been generally 

 attributed to :,cids as a charactcriitic, hut certainly vciy 

 fiToneoudy. 'J'lie moil incombuUiblc of the acids arc m> 

 more fo than the fixed alkalies, tlie earths, and the perfett 

 metallic oxyds ; and all the acids with two or three radi- 

 cals, and thofe with fimple radicals in the firll ftate of 

 oxygenation, are, ftrldly fpeaking, combuftible, that is, they 

 unite at a certain temperature v.ith oxygen gas, duiing 

 which combination heat, and in fome calcs light alfo arc 

 extricated. 



The medical efTeds t)f acids are confidcrable, and vaiy 

 according to their degree of concentration ; the moll ai.Hive, 

 wlien p\uc, or nearly lo, are ufed externally as cauilies and 

 efcharotics, and as powerful llimulants in fome cafes of 

 palfy : if largely diluted with water, they may be fafely 

 employed internally in fevers, inflammations, and hemorr- 

 hages, as refrigerants and ailringcnts. 



For the particular acids, fee them under their fpecific 

 names. 



Encycloped. Method, art. Acide. — Lavoifier's Elements 

 of Chcmillry. — Priefllcy on Air. vol. ii. — Fourcroy, Syf- 



teme des Connoif. Chimiq. voL ii Macquer's Chem. Dic\. 



art. Acid. Cullen Mat. Med. vol. ii. 



ACID ALIUS, Va LENS, in Biography, M-. cmiHent gram- 

 marian and critic, was born at Witftoch, in Brandeuburgli,and 

 after vifiting feveral academies on the continent, fixed his rcfi- 

 dence at Bredaw. Being difappointed of employment, he 

 became a Roman catholic, and was chofen rettor of a 

 fchool at Nieffa. Thuanus infonns us, that he was a very 

 clofe Ihident, and that his nofturnal ftudies, which were un- 

 feafonably prolonged, whilft he was compofing his conjec- 

 tures on Plautus, occalioned a dillemper that terminated \n. 

 his death, on the 25th of May 1595, when he was juft. 

 turned ot 28. He wrote a Commentaiy on Qiiintus Cur- 

 tius ; Notes on Tacitus ; on the twelve Panegyrics ; bi.- 

 fides fpeechcs, letters, and poems. A fmall piece, printed 

 in 1595, and intitled, MiiHercs non ejfe homines, or that 

 " women were not of the human fpecies," was falfely 

 afcribed to him. He only accidentally found the MS. a:.d 

 printed it. It is faid, that in order to appeafe the wratl- of 

 fome ladies, who reproached him as the author, he dccland 

 his opinion, that the author was a judicious perfon, tho 

 ladies being certainly more of the fpecies of angels than ot 

 men. M. Bailltt, who admits him among his Enfans ce'e- 

 bres, fays, that his conunent on Plautus was written when 

 he was not mere than fcventeen or eighteen years of age, and 

 that he compofed feveral Latin poems about the fame period, 



ACIDALUS, the name of a fountain in Orch imenos, 

 a city of Bceolia, in which the Graces, who are facred to 

 Venus, bathed : lience the epithet ^cldalia, given to Venus. 

 See Virgil yEn. 1. i. v. 724k 



AC ID A V A, in Ancient Geography, a town of Dacia, 

 towards the countiy of the Ja/ygii. 



ACIDIFIABLE bafe, AciuiFiCATiON, in. Chemijlry, 

 The general theoiy of tlic formation of Acips has already 

 been explained under that term. An acidifiable bafe or 

 Radical is any fuhftance, whether fimple or compound, 

 that is capable of uniting without decouipofition, witii fuch 

 a quantity of oxygen as thereby to become pofTeded of 

 acid properties. All acids agree with each other in Cf)n« 

 taining ox.ygen, but diner from each other in their radicals ; 

 hence it is the atiditlable bafe that dcterminea the fpettea 

 of acid. This term was unknown in chcmiftiy prcvioully lo 

 the difeoverics of Lnvoifier on the compofiti-jii of acids, hc« 

 caufs thofv bodicti that are now proved to be convtrtitiLs 



