An introduction to medical literature, including a system of practical nosology : intended as a guide to students, and an assistant to practitioners / by Thomas Young.

  • Thomas Young
Date:
1813
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An introduction to medical literature, including a system of practical nosology : intended as a guide to students, and an assistant to practitioners / by Thomas Young. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

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    ment were simply true, the general law would be false. But if we assume, that nitrogen contains 56.973 per cent, of oxygen, the G3.72 of nitrogen contained, according to Gay Lussac's experi- ments, in 100 of nitrous oxyd, must contain 36.29 of oxygen* which is equal to the additional portion of oxygen combined with it to form this oxyd : and upon this assumption, the nitric acid must consist of 13 parts ammonium, and' 87 oxygen, -J of which is 14.5, corresponding to the oxygen of the base of a ni- trate ; a coincidence which affords an additional argument for the compound nature of nitrogen. And the quantities of oxygen in nitrogen, the two oxyds, and the two acids, will be represented by 1, 2, 3, 4. and 5: [here, however, it is supposed, that the number If, assigned by Gay Lussac, ought to have been l|. P. 603]. (9). P. 604. It is probable that the muriatic acid, of which 100 parts neutralise a base containing 29.454 of oxygen, con- tains twice as much oxygen as the base, that is, 58.9 per cent, since any other supposition would afford a less regular progres- sion in its compounds. It contains, inseparably united, a portion of water, of which the oxygen is equal to that of any otfier base, and which amounts to J of its whole weight, P. 611. Against Davy's hypothesis of the simplicity of the oxyrauriatic acid, or chlorine, it is impossible to advance any conclusive arguments; some analogies, however, appear to be decidedly adverse to it. First, the resemblance of the muriatic acid to many other acids inclines us to think, that it must pos- jess the common principle of acidity. Secondly, the resemblance of the dry muriates to other dry salts is much stronger than their analogy to oxyds. And, thirdly, the submUriates would require to be considered as a peculiar clas^ of bodies, consisting of chlorine, oxygen, and the base : and in this case the quantity of the oxygen would not agree, either with that which the acid is capable of taking up in one of its two higher stages of oxy- geni/ation, or with that which is capable of combining with the metal. For example, in the submuriate of lead, the acid is uni- ted with a quantity of the oxyd, of which the oxygon is [pro-