l, and can be driven out by a degree of heat only sufficient to make
glass red hot; wherefore such bodies as are capable of uniting with
oxygen are readily oxygenated, by means of being mixed with red oxyd of
mercury, and moderately heated. The same effect may be, to a certain
degree, produced by means of the black oxyd of manganese, the red oxyd
of lead, the oxyds of silver, and by most of the metallic oxyds, if we
only take care to choose such as have less affinity with oxygen than the
bodies they are meant to oxygenate. All the metallic reductions and
revivifications belong to this class of operations, being nothing more
than oxygenations of charcoal, by means of the several metallic oxyds.
The charcoal combines with the oxygen and with caloric, and escapes in
form of carbonic acid gas, while the metal remains pure and revivified,
or deprived of the oxygen which before combined with it in the form of
oxyd.

All combustible substances may likewise be oxygenated by means of mixing
them with nitrat of potash or of soda, or with oxygenated muriat of
potash, and subjecting the mixture to a certain degree of heat; the
oxygen, in this case, quits the nitrat or the muriat, and combines with
the combustible body. This species of oxygenation requires to be
performed with extreme caution, and only with very small quantities;
because, as the oxygen enters into the composition of nitrats, and more
especially of oxygenated muriats, combined with almost as much caloric
as is necessary for converting it into oxygen gas, this immense quantity
of caloric becomes suddenly free the instant of the combination of the
oxygen with the combustible body, and produces such violent explosions
as are perfectly irresistible.

By the humid way we can oxygenate most combustible bodies, and convert
most of the oxyds of the three kingdoms of nature into acids. For this
purpose we chiefly employ the nitric acid, which has a very slight hold
of oxygen, and quits it readily to a great number of bodies by the
assistance of a gentle heat. The oxygenated muriatic acid may be used
for several operations of this kind, but not in them all.

I give the name of _binary_ to the combinations of oxygen with the
simple substances, because in these only two elements are combined. When
three substances are united in one combination I call it _ternary_, and
_quaternary_ when the combination consists of four substances united.

TABLE _of the combinations of Oxygen