ABSTRACT
It is probable that they are the same property; but astronomical attraction being only exerted between masses placed at a distance, in which the figure of the moleculæ, their intervals, and peculiar habitudes, have no influence, its effects, in all cases proportionate to the mass, and in the inverse ratio of the square of the distances, may be the object of accurate calculation: the effects of chemical attraction or affinity are, on the contrary, so changed by particular and frequently indeterminate conditions, that they cannot be deduced from any general principle; but must be considered in succession. There are but few of these effects which can be sufficiently disengaged from all the other phenomena to be rendered capable of precise calculation. Every substance which has a tendency to enter into combination, acts in the ratio of its affinity and of its quantity.
