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the neck, efcaped j in the other, hardly any air 
could be obferved, the water funk during the fo- 
lution of the acid very apparently, yet _^_.th part 
of the water’s weight of acid caufed a fenfible 
elevation : fo that, whatever may be thought of the 
.caufe of the water’s finking during the folution of a 
fait, the principle of its being to a certain degree 
imbibed into the pores of water feems in no cafe to 
be true, whether the fait be in a concrete or fluid 
form. This fubjedt may receive fome illuftration 
from what is obferved in the freezing of water ; 
ice from common water is always fpecifically lighter 
than water, from its retaining in its concrete form 
feveral air-bubbles, which enlarge its bulk without 
adding to its weight ; this ice, when put into a 
matrafs, after the manner in which all the preced- 
ing experiments with falts were made, would elevate 
the water moft upon the firfl: immerfion : the water 
would fink as the ice melted ; equal portions of ice 
would produce equal elevations both before and after 
folution j the air would be feparated in a form more 
or lefs vifible, according to the circumfhnces in 
which the experiment fhould be tried ; and not the 
fmalleft portion of ice could be diflolved without 
increafingthe bulk of the whole. Salts do not feem 
to differ much from ice in the manner of their form- 
ation, and as fimilar phenomena attend their folution 
in water, why may we not explain them from the 
fame caufe ? But if any one Ihould think differently, 
notwithftanding the experiments which have been 
produced, I profefs mylelf extremely ready to liften 
to any reafoning founded upon experiment which 
Vol. LX. Z z may 
