understood from the preceding experiments; the attractive force of crystallisation of isomorphous substances is so nearly equal that the attractive power of an isomorphous substance induces a crystalline superstructure exactly the same as would be produced by the attractive force of like crystalline particles. From this it is evident that one isomorphous substance may _induce the crystallisation_[4] of another. Such a phenomenon explains, on the one hand, the aggregation of different isomorphous substances in one crystal, whilst, on the other hand, it serves as a most exact indication of the nearness both of the molecular composition of isomorphous substances and of those forces which are proper to the elements which distinguish the isomorphous substances. Thus, for example, ferrous sulphate or green vitriol crystallises in the monoclinic system and contains seven molecules of water, FeSO_{4},7H_{2}O, whilst copper vitriol crystallises with five molecules of water in the triclinic system, CuSO_{4},5H_{2}O; nevertheless, it may be easily proved that both salts are perfectly isomorphous; that they are able to appear in identically the same forms and with an equal molecular amount of water. For instance, Marignac, by evaporating a mixture of sulphuric acid and ferrous sulphate under the receiver of an air-pump, first obtained crystals of the hepta-hydrated salt, and then of the penta-hydrated salt FeSO_{4},5H_{2}O, which were perfectly similar to the crystals of copper sulphate. Furthermore, Lecoq de Boisbaudran, by immersing crystals of FeSO_{4},7H_{2}O in a supersaturated solution of copper sulphate, caused the latter to deposit in the same form as ferrous sulphate, in crystals of the monoclinic system, CuSO_{4},7H_{2}O. [1] For instance the analogy of the sulphates of K, Rb, and Cs (Chapter XIII., Note 1). [1 bis] The crystalline forms of aragonite, strontianite, and witherite belong to the rhombic system; the angle of the prism of CaCO_{3} is 116° 10´, of SrCO_{3} 117° 19´, and of BaCO_{3} 118° 30´. On the other hand the crystalline forms of calc spar, magnesite, and calamine, which resemble each other quite as closely, belong to the rhombohedral system, with the angle of the rhombohedra for CaCO_{3} 105° 8´, MgCO_{3} 107° 10´, and ZnCO_{3} 107° 40´. From this comparison it is at once evident that zinc is more closely allied to magnesium than magnesium to calcium.