of some Calamines. 25 
Compound salt, of carbonate of zinc and hydrate of zinc 990.3 
Water, in the state of moisture 
Carbonate of zinc and carbonate of lead 
2.5 
7.2 
6 8 0 
— Zo 
— 4JL 
60 
1000.0 
It may be thought some corroboration of the system here 
offered, that, if we admit the proportions which it indicates,, the 
remote elements of this ore, while they are regular parts of their 
immediate products, by whose subsequent union this ore is 
engendered, are also regular fractions of the ore itself: thus, 
The carbonic acid 
The water 
The calx of zinc - 
Hereby displaying that sort of regularity, in every point of 
view of the object, which so wonderfully characterises the works 
of nature, when beheld in their true light. 
If this calamine does consist of carbonate of zinc and hydrate 
of zinc, in the regular proportions above supposed, little doubt 
can exist of its being a true chemical combination of these two 
matters, and not merely a mechanical mixture of them in a 
pulverulent state; and, if so, we may indulge the hope of some 
day meeting with this ore in regular crystals. 
If the theory here advanced has any foundation in truth, the 
discovery will introduce a degree of rigorous accuracy and cer- 
tainty into chemistry, of which this science was thought to be 
ever incapable, by enabling the chemist, like the geometrician, 
to rectify by calculation the unavoidable errors of his manual 
operations, and by authorising him to discriminate from the 
essential elements of a compound, those products of its analysis 
whose quantity cannot be reduced to any admissible proportion. 
A certain knowledge of the exact proportions of the constituent 
MDcccnr. E 
