We may now proceed to consider sulphureous substances, with regard to
their solubility in water, and to the part which these bodies have acted
in consolidating the strata of the globe.
The sulphureous substances here meant to be considered, are substances
not soluble in, water, so far as we know, but fusible by heat, and
inflammable or combustible by means of heat and vital air. These
substances are of two kinds; the one more simple, the other more
compound.
The most simple kind is composed of two different substances, viz.
phlogiston, with certain specific substances; from which result, on the
one hand, sulphur, and, on the other, proper coal and metals. The more
compound sort, again, is oily matter, produced by vegetables, and
forming bituminous bodies.
The _first_ of these is found naturally combined with almost all
metallic substances, which are then said to be mineralised with sulphur.
Now, it is well known, that this mineralising operation is performed by
means of heat or fusion; and there is no person skilled in chemistry
that will pretend to say, this may be done by aqueous solution.
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