METALLIC OXIDES. 
359 
Thus the vibrations of the water supposed to be contained in 
a canal in the situation of the equator, and 90 0 in length, 
would be synchronous with the passage of a wave 180° in breadth, 
over any point of a canal of the same depth : and the eleva- 
tion and depression of a spheroid, compared with the mean 
height, exhibits a symmetrical wave in the sense of the propo- 
sition. 
{To he continued.) 
II. 
An explanatory Statement of the Notions or Principles upon 
which the systematic Arrangement is founded, which was 
adopted as the Basis of an Essa-y on Chemical Nomenclature . 
By Professor J. Berzelius. 
( Concluded from p. 131.) 
A PORTION of the solution of the oxide in caustic kali. Oxides of tin. 
was precipitated by alcohol, in order to obtain the com- 
bination, if possible, in a state of purity. I dried the precipi- 
tate in a press between blotting paper, and then heated ic to a 
red heat. Four grammes of the heated mass, (which, previous 
to exposure to the fire, did not contain any carbonic acid) were 
treated with the muriatic acid, which caused a strong effer- 
vescence to take place, and took up the kali, leaving the oxide 
untouched. I obtained 07 grammes of muriate of kali, and 
3 '4 grammes of the oxide, which, consequently, had been 
combined with 0 44 grammes of kali- — that is to say, the oxide 
contained, in this combination, ten times as much oxigen as 
kali. But it is probable that this experiment cannot be relied 
upon with much confidence. 
A solution of the caustic kali, much diluted with water, 
and digested with more of the oxide of tin at a maximum than 
it could dissolve, was evaporated to dryness, and treated with 
nitric acid. It yielded 1932 parts of the red oxide of tin, and 
12 parts of potash. The first contained 42 parts of oxigen, 
and the latter 2'04— that is to say, the oxide contained twenty 
times as much oxigen as the potash. But I repeat, that when 
the affinities of bodies are too weak, and the difficulty of at- 
taining 
