Note 6 — LECTURE I. THE FORCE OF GRAVITATION.
Reading edition
Page 29. Add a little liquid to the marble, and decompose it.—Marble is composed of carbonic acid and lime, and, in chemical language, is called carbonate of lime. When sulphuric acid is added to it, the carbonic acid is set free, and the sulphuric acid unites with the lime to form sulphate of lime.
Carbonic acid, under ordinary circumstances, is a colourless invisible gas, about half as heavy again as air. Dr. Faraday first shewed that, under great pressure, it could be obtained in a liquid state. Thilorier, a French chemist, afterwards found that it could be solidified.