440 
SECOND REPORT™ 1832 . 
He supposes that these compounds owe their differences to 
the presence of some unknown element in so small a proportion 
as to escape detection, but which is sufficient to modify the 
entire properties of the substance. The effect thus produced 
he calls merorganization : thus starch is merorganized sugar. 
But while we can so easily conceive that by a different grouping 
of the elementary atoms, even when present in the same number 
and proportion, very different compounds may be produced, it 
would appear superfluous to suppose the presence of any 
foreign or unknown substance. 
Of the speculations to which the law of isomerism has given 
rise, those of M. Dumas * regarding the probable isomerism 
of the metals are the most interesting. He supposes that those 
metals whose atomic weights are equal, or which have a simple 
relation to each other, may be only isomeric or polymeric modi¬ 
fications of the same elements. Thus in several of the groups 
which he names we find a remarkable similarity in chemical 
properties as well as in atomic weight. Thus we have 
Atoms. 
Cobalt 388-99 
Nickel 369-67 
Atoms. 
Platinum 1233*26 
Iridium 1233*26 
Atoms. 
Molybdenum 598*5 
\ Tungsten 596*5 
In all these cases there is a remarkable similarity in chemical 
properties, and in the forms and localities in which they are 
found in nature, as well as in the atomic weight. Can moly¬ 
bdenum and tungsten be different modifications of the same 
elementary substance ? Such inquiries are far from being 
without their use in experimental sciences ; they often suggest 
trains of research from which most important results are ob¬ 
tained. 
Sulphur Salts .—The most important modification which the 
received views in regard to the nature of saline combinations 
and the mode of naming them has of late years undergone, has 
been brought about by the elaborate researches of Berzelius 
into the constitution of the sulphur salts. The results of these 
researches were first published in six Memoirs in the Swedish 
Transactions for 1825 and 1826, and afterwards inPoggendorf’s 
Annals for the latter year. In the outset of his first Memoir, 
he divides all electro-negative bodies into three classes : 
1st, Such as combine directly with and neutralize the electro¬ 
positive metals, forming salts. These are chlorine, iodine, 
bromine and fluorine, and are named salt-formers. 
2nd, Such as do not neutralize, but form acids or bases 
* Annates de Chtmie , xlvii. p. 324. 
