XVIII. Experiments on carbonated hydrogenous gas; with a view to determine whether carbon be a simple or a compound substance

T h e progress of chemical science depends not only on the acquisition of new facts, but on the accurate establishment, and just valuation, of those we already possess: for its general principles will otherwise be liable to frequent subversions; and the mutability of its doctrines will but ill accord with the unvaried order of nature. Impressed with this conviction, I have been in­ duced to examine a late attempt to withdraw from its rank among the elementary bodies, one of the most interesting objects of chemistry. The inferences respecting the composition of char­ coal, deduced by Dr. A u s t i n from his experiments on the heavy inflammable air,* lead to changes so numerous in our explanations of natural phaenomena, that they ought not to be admitted without the strictest scrutiny of the reasoning of this philosopher, and an attentive repetition of the experi­ ments themselves. In the former, sources of fallacy may, I think, be easily detected ; and in the latter, there is reason to suspect that Dr. A u s t i n has been misled by inattention to some collateral circumstances. Several chemists, however, of dis­ tinguished rank have expressed themselves satisfied with the