The impossibility of the correctness of the hypothesis is now revealed
by the fact just demonstrated, that in the case of nitrogen the specific
gravity does not coincide with the molecular weight. If equal volumes
contain the same number of molecules, the specific gravities and the
molecular weights must be the same; and if the specific gravities and
molecular weights are not the same, equal volumes cannot contain the
same number of molecules. The assumed molecular weight of nitrogen is
twice as great as the specific gravity, but the molecular weight and
the specific gravity of cyanogen are identical; the number of molecules
contained in one volume of cyanogen must, therefore, necessarily be
twice as great as the number contained in one of nitrogen, and this is
fully and completely borne out by the chemical facts.
In saying that when cyanogen combines with chlorine there is naturally
no condensation, Mr. Greene has no idea that this natural law is fatal
to his artificial law of Avogadro and Ampere; "for," continues he, "the
theory is fulfilled by the actual reaction." It is not. The theory
requires two vols. of cyanogen and two vols. of chlorine, that is, the
unit of numbers, to enter into reaction and to produce two vols. of
the compound. But they produce four vols., and the non-condensation is
therefore in opposition to the theory. It is true beyond doubt that the
molecular weight of cyanogen chloride is contained in two volumes, in
spite of the hypothesis, not on the ground of it; two vols.
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