6U PROOFS OF THE LAWS OF CHEMICAL AFFINITY.

Inferences.. ..All the tables of affinities in the usual sense ofthe word, are therefore merely comparative approximations totruth, for they have been constructed upon the supposition thatdifferent substances possess different absolute degrees of affinityto each other, capable of producing the decompositions and com-binations which offer themselves independently of the propor-tions of the bodies presented to each other. On the contrary :to determine the elective affinity of different bodies to each other,it is requisite to enquire what are the phenomena which theyoffer when presented to each other in different proportions.These phenomena have hitherto been little atttended to; nor hasmuch attention been paid to other particular circumstances whichappear capable of influencing the agency of affinity in general,namely : the action of light, electricity, galvanism, &c.

When these, and the before-mentioned discovery of Bertholletfor determining the relative strength of affinity are more attendedto, they will probably lead to consequences of the greatest import-ance. It will oblige chemists to attend more closely to the reci-procal action of bodies on each other under different circum-stances, and the result must be, the discovery of several lawswhich will greatly facilitate the acquisition and the advance-ment of the science.

The rapid progress which chemistry has lately made; the mul-tiplicity of its researches; and the sepjpulous accuracy of ob-servation with which experiments are now conducted afford usevery reason to hope that this will soon be accomplished.