112 CHEMICAL AND PHARMACEUTIC MANIPULATIONS. 
agreeably to the received laws of affinity, they must be re- 
duced from their per centage proportion to the proportions 
of their equivalents. If any one of the constituents hap- 
pens to express in the per centage results, the combining 
weight of that body, the others will also express their com- 
bining weights or multiples of them. Or if any one can 
be multiplied or divided by any number, which will give 
the combining weight of that body, the others multiplied 
or divided by the same number, (in order to keep up the 
same proportion as in the per centage results,) will express 
their combining weight or multiples of them. 
" Thus the analysis of carbonate of lime, according to 
Dumas (1,) and Erdman and Marchand (2,) gives — 
i 
2 
■i-2 
Lime 
56.06 
56 
28 
Carbonic acid 
43.94 
44 
22 
100.00 
100 
50 
" If the 44 carbonic acid be divided by 2, it gives the 
combining weight of one equiv. of the acid; and the lime 
if divided also by 2, gives the combining weight of one 
equiv. of it. It is, therefore, composed of 1 equiv. of each 
constituent. Again, if 56 be divided by thecombining weight 
of lime, 28, the result is 2 ; and 44 divided by the combin- 
ing weight of the acid, likewise gives 2. The proportion 
between the equivs. is, therefore 2 : 2, or reduced to the 
lowest term 1:1. 
"Now since the per centage composition expresses the 
proportion between the combining weights of the constitu- 
ents, if each constituent be divided by its combining 
weight, the result will be the proportion between the num- 
ber of equivalents in the compound. 
" Then the lowest of these numbers divided by itself gives 
unity ; and the others divided by the same number will ex- 
press the proportion between all the equivalents, and gen- 
erally in whole numbers, if the analysis has been correct. 
