On the condition of certain elements at the moment of chemical change

This paper contains an experimental inquiry, founded upon certain theoretical considerations as to the condition of bodies at the moment of chemical change, with the discussion of which the introduction is occupied. The author considers that the peculiar combining properties of the elemental particles of which chemical substances are composed, are due to a chemical polarity of the acting masses, which takes place at the contact of the bodies, and have only a remote relation to the electro-chemical nature of the isolated element. In support of this view are cited the phenomena of double decomposition, and the properties of the so-called “nascent” elements, which could never be inferred from the nature of the element when once isolated and formed. Double decomposition the author considers to be the true type of all chemical action. In the case of the bodies called compound, this polarity is manifested by the division of the substance into two parts, which are universally considered to stand to one another in a certain positive and negative relation; and also by the synthesis, which corresponds to this division.