370 
Book II 
Division II. 
Characters. 
SALTS. 
is the only chemist, if we except Bergman, who has at 
tempted a description of them. They may be distin 
guished by the following properties : 
1. Before the blow-pipe they melt into a glass. 
2. When their concentrated solutions are boiled with 
sulphuric acid, and allowed to cool, brilliant scales of 
boracic acid are deposited. 
3. They are not altered by combustible bodies. 
4. With most metallic oxides they enter into fusion, 
and form globules of coloured glass. 
Sp. 1. Borat of Lime. 
THIS salt may be formed by mixing together lime 
water and the aqueous solution of boracic acid, or by 
boiling together lime and pure borax in water. In ei 
ther case, the borat of lime precipitates in the state of 
a white powder, tasteless, and difficultly soluble in 
water *. 
Sp. 2. Borat of Barytes. 
An insoluble white powder, which has scarcely been 
examined, formed by the same process as borat of 
lime. 
Sp. 3. Borat of Strontian. 
THIs salt has only been formed by Dr Hope. It is 
a white powder, soluble in about 130 parts of boiling 
water. The solution turns the syrup of violets greent. 
It is therefore in the state of a sub-borat. 
Hope, Edin. Trans. iv. 17. 
* Bergman. ili. 363.