When Salt of Tartar _per deliquium_, being poured into the Solution of
any Metal, precipitates the Metal and makes it fall down to the bottom
of the Liquor in the form of Mud: Does not this argue that the acid
Particles are attracted more strongly by the Salt of Tartar than by the
Metal, and by the stronger Attraction go from the Metal to the Salt of
Tartar? And so when a Solution of Iron in _Aqua fortis_ dissolves the
_Lapis Calaminaris_, and lets go the Iron, or a Solution of Copper
dissolves Iron immersed in it and lets go the Copper, or a Solution of
Silver dissolves Copper and lets go the Silver, or a Solution of Mercury
in _Aqua fortis_ being poured upon Iron, Copper, Tin, or Lead, dissolves
the Metal and lets go the Mercury; does not this argue that the acid
Particles of the _Aqua fortis_ are attracted more strongly by the _Lapis
Calaminaris_ than by Iron, and more strongly by Iron than by Copper, and
more strongly by Copper than by Silver, and more strongly by Iron,
Copper, Tin, and Lead, than by Mercury? And is it not for the same
reason that Iron requires more _Aqua fortis_ to dissolve it than Copper,
and Copper more than the other Metals; and that of all Metals, Iron is
dissolved most easily, and is most apt to rust; and next after Iron,
Copper?
When Oil of Vitriol is mix'd with a little Water, or is run _per
deliquium_, and in Distillation the Water ascends difficultly, and
brings over with it some part of the Oil of Vitriol in the form of
Spirit of Vitriol, and this Spirit being poured upon Iron, Copper, or
Salt of Tartar, unites with the Body and lets go the Water; doth not
this shew that the acid Spirit is attracted by the Water, and more
attracted by the fix'd Body than by the Water, and therefore lets go the
Water to close with the fix'd Body? And is it not for the same reason
that the Water and acid Spirits which are mix'd together in Vinegar,
_Aqua fortis_, and Spirit of Salt, cohere and rise together in
Distillation; but if the _Menstruum_ be poured on Salt of Tartar, or on
Lead, or Iron, or any fix'd Body which it can dissolve, the Acid by a
stronger Attraction adheres to the Body, and lets go the Water? And is
it not also from a mutual Attraction that the Spirits of Soot and
Sea-Salt unite and compose the Particles of Sal-armoniac, which are less
volatile than before, because grosser and freer from Water; and that the
Particles of Sal-armoniac in Sublimation carry up the Particles of
Antimony, which will not sublime alone; and that the Particles of
Mercury uniting with the acid Particles of Spirit of Salt compose
Mercury sublimate, and with the Particles of Sulphur, compose Cinnaber;
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