That, I should think, must have been an excellent arrangement; why was it altered?
MRS. B.
Because in many cases it produced confusion. In which class, for instance, would you place carbonic acid?
CAROLINE.
Now I see the difficulty. I should be at a loss where to place it, as you have told us that it exists in the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms.
EMILY.
There would be the same objection with respect to phosphoric acid, which, though obtained chiefly from bones, can also, you said, be found in small quantities in stones, and likewise in some plants.
MRS. B.
You see, therefore, the propriety of changing this mode of classification. These objections do not exist in the present nomenclature; for the composition and nature of each individual acid is in some degree pointed out, instead of the class of bodies from which it is extracted; and, with regard to the more general division of acids, they are classed under these three heads:
First, Acids of known or supposed simple bases, which are formed by the union of these bases with oxygen. They are the following: