45 2 Supplemental

Finding that all the acid os vitriol wascontained in the crystals, and that the super-incumbent liquid became in time pure spiritof nitre, I was desirous of knowing whether,if there should be any phlogistic matterpreviously contained in the oil of vitriol,the phlogiston would be retained in thecrystals, or pass into the spirit of nitre.

With this view I dissolved a small quan~tity of bees-wax in highly concentrated oilof vitriol, making it thoroughly black, andgreatly increasing its viscidity; and afterwardsI impregnated it with nitrous vapour, andsliut it close up in a small phial. After someweeks the crystals began to form, and they.were intirely white, just as if the vitriolicacid had been pure. The process is not yetcompleted; bus I expect that the nitrousacid will be highly phlogisticated. Doesnot this experiment seem to prove, that thenitrous acid has a stronger affinity withphlogiston than the vitriolic ? The fact iscertainly a pretty remarkable one.