MRS. B.
It is so. Caloric may, indeed, be considered as having, in every instance, some share in the solution of a body by water, since water, however low its temperature may be, always contains more or less caloric.
EMILY.
Then, perhaps, water owes its solvent power merely to the caloric contained in it?
MRS. B.
That, probably, would be carrying the speculation too far; I should rather think that water and caloric unite their efforts to dissolve a body, and that the difficulty or facility of effecting this, depend both on the degree of attraction of aggregation to be overcome, and on the arrangement of the particles which are more or less disposed to be divided and penetrated by the solvent.
EMILY.
But have not all liquids the same solvent power as water?
MRS. B.
The solvent power of other liquids varies according to their nature, and that of the substances submitted to their action. Most of these solvents, indeed, differ essentially from water, as they do not merely separate the integrant particles of the bodies which they dissolve, but attack their constituent principles by the power of chemical attraction, thus producing a true decomposition. These more complicated operations we must consider in another place, and confine our attention at present to the solutions by water and caloric.