NITRE. 
GENERIC CHARACTER. 
Very soluble in water. 
Decomposed by vitriolic acid, the acid of the nitre rising iij 
acrid suffocating vapours. 
Detonates when thrown on burning coals. 
SPECIFIC CHARACTER. 
Nitrum nativum. N. fixum nudum, purum, non deliquescensj 
aqua, quasolutum fuerat, exhalante, crys- 
tallos hexaedro-prismaticas utrinque py- 
ramide hexaedra inaequali terminatas exhi- 
bent. Lynn. Syst. Nat. Gmel. 3. p. 202. 
A pure fixed salt, not dissolving in the air j 
soluble in water j crystallizes in the form 
of six-sided prisms terminated by six- 
sided pyramids. 
Native Nitre. . Cronst. Miner. 1 . p. 344. Kirivan, Miner. 
2. p. 25. Brogn. Miner. 1 . p. 112. 
This saline substance, so well known in commerce 
by the name of saltpetre, is found in a native state 
in several parts of the world, generally under the 
form of an efflorescence composed of extremely 
delicate needles, called by the French salpetre cle 
