particularly on those of Combustion; of the raising of Water in the State of Vapour; of the Heat produced by the Friction of solid Bodies against each other," &c. &c. A condensed view of the opinions promulgated in that work, and some others on the same subject, is thus given by Cuvier. According to our author, "Matter is not homogeneous; it consists of simple principles, essentially different among themselves. The connexion of these principles in compounds varies in intensity; they mutually conceal each other, more or less, according as each of them is more or less predominant. The principle of no compound is ever in a natural state, but always more or less modified: as, however, it is not agreeable to reason that a substance should have a tendency to depart from its natural condition, it must be concluded, that combinations are not produced by Nature, but that, on the contrary, she tends unceasingly to destroy the combinations which exist, and each principle of a compound body tries to disengage itself according to the degree of its energy. From this tendency, favoured by the presence of water, dissolutions result: affinities have no influence; and all experiments by which it is attempted to be proved that water decomposes, and consists of many kinds of air, are mere illusions, and that it is fire which produces them. The element of fire[1] is subject, like the others, to modification when combined. In its natural state, every-
- ↑ Memoir on the substance of fire, considered as a chemical agent in analysis.—Journal de Physique, Floreal, An. vii.
