The Project Gutenberg eBook ofExperiments and Observations on Different Kinds of AirThis ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online atwww.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.Title: Experiments and Observations on Different Kinds of AirAuthor: Joseph PriestleyRelease date: August 19, 2009 [eBook #29734]Most recently updated: January 5, 2021Language: EnglishCredits: Produced by Mark C. Orton, Steven Gibbs, Josephine Paolucciand the Online Distributed Proofreading Team athttps://www.pgdp.net.*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EXPERIMENTS AND OBSERVATIONS ON DIFFERENT KINDS OF AIR ***
This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online atwww.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.
Title: Experiments and Observations on Different Kinds of AirAuthor: Joseph PriestleyRelease date: August 19, 2009 [eBook #29734]Most recently updated: January 5, 2021Language: EnglishCredits: Produced by Mark C. Orton, Steven Gibbs, Josephine Paolucciand the Online Distributed Proofreading Team athttps://www.pgdp.net.
Title: Experiments and Observations on Different Kinds of Air
Author: Joseph Priestley
Author: Joseph Priestley
Release date: August 19, 2009 [eBook #29734]Most recently updated: January 5, 2021
Language: English
Credits: Produced by Mark C. Orton, Steven Gibbs, Josephine Paolucciand the Online Distributed Proofreading Team athttps://www.pgdp.net.
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EXPERIMENTS AND OBSERVATIONS ON DIFFERENT KINDS OF AIR ***
To face the Title.To face the Title.
Quamobrem, si qua est erga Creatorem humilitas, si qua operum ejus reverentia et magnificatio, si qua charitas in homines, si erga necessitates et ærumnas humanas relevandas studium, si quis amor veritatis in naturalibus, et odium tenebrarum, et intellectus purificandi desiderium; orandi sunt homines iterum atque iterum, ut, missis philosophiis istis volaticis et preposteris, quæ theses hypothesibus anterposuerunt, et experientiam captivam duxerunt, atque de operibus dei triumpharunt, summisse, et cum veneratione quadam, ad volumen creaturarum evolvendum accedant; atque in eo moram faciant, meditentur, et ab opinionibus abluti et mundi, caste et integre versentur.——In interpretatione ejus eruenda nulli operæ parcant, sed strenue procedant, persistant, immoriantur.Lord Bacon in Instauratione Magna.
Quamobrem, si qua est erga Creatorem humilitas, si qua operum ejus reverentia et magnificatio, si qua charitas in homines, si erga necessitates et ærumnas humanas relevandas studium, si quis amor veritatis in naturalibus, et odium tenebrarum, et intellectus purificandi desiderium; orandi sunt homines iterum atque iterum, ut, missis philosophiis istis volaticis et preposteris, quæ theses hypothesibus anterposuerunt, et experientiam captivam duxerunt, atque de operibus dei triumpharunt, summisse, et cum veneratione quadam, ad volumen creaturarum evolvendum accedant; atque in eo moram faciant, meditentur, et ab opinionibus abluti et mundi, caste et integre versentur.——In interpretatione ejus eruenda nulli operæ parcant, sed strenue procedant, persistant, immoriantur.
Lord Bacon in Instauratione Magna.
Fert animus Causas tantarum expromere rerum;Immensumque aperitur opus.Lucan
LONDON:Printed forJ. Johnson, No. 72, in St. Paul's Church-Yard.MDCCLXXV.
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLETHE EARL OF SHELBURNE,THIS TREATISE ISWITH THE GREATEST GRATITUDEAND RESPECT,INSCRIBED,BY HIS LORDSHIP'sMOST OBLIGED,AND OBEDIENTHUMBLE SERVANT,J. PRIESTLEY.
Transcriber's Note: Footnotes have been moved to the end of the chapter. The errata listed at the end of the book have been corrected in the text.
One reason for the present publication has been the favourable reception of those of myObservations on different kinds of air, which were published in the Philosophical Transactions for the year 1772, and the demand for them by persons who did not chuse, for the sake of those papers only, to purchase the whole volume in which they were contained. Another motive was theadditionsto my observations on this subject, in consequence of which my papers grew too large for such a publication as thePhilosophical Transactions.
Contrary, therefore, to my intention, expressed Philosophical Transactions, vol. 64. p. 90, but with the approbation of the President, and of my friends in the society,I have determined to send them no more papers for the present on this subject, but to make a separate and immediate publication of all that I have done with respect to it.
Besides, considering the attention which, I am informed, is now given to this subject by philosophers in all parts of Europe, and the rapid progress that has already been made, and may be expected to be made in this branch of knowledge, all unnecessary delays in the publication of experiments relating to it are peculiarly unjustifiable.
When, for the sake of a little more reputation, men can keep brooding over a new fact, in the discovery of which they might, possibly, have very little real merit, till they think they can astonish the world with a system as complete as it is new, and give mankind a prodigious idea of their judgment and penetration; they are justly punished for their ingratitude to the fountain of all knowledge, and for their want of a genuine love of science and ofmankind, in finding their boasted discoveries anticipated, and the field of honest fame pre-occupied, by men, who, from a natural ardour of mind, engage in philosophical pursuits, and with an ingenuous simplicity immediately communicate to others whatever occurs to them in their inquiries.
As to myself, I find it absolutely impossible to produce a work on this subject that shall be any thing likecomplete. My first publication I acknowledged to be very imperfect, and the present, I am as ready to acknowledge, is still more so. But, paradoxical as it may seem, this will ever be the case in the progress of natural science, so long as the works of God are, like himself, infinite and inexhaustible. In completing one discovery we never fail to get an imperfect knowledge of others, of which we could have no idea before; so that we cannot solve one doubt without creating several new ones.
Travelling on this ground resembles Pope's description of travelling amongthe Alps, with this difference, that here there is not onlysuccession, but anincreaseof new objects and new difficulties.
So pleas'd at first the tow'ring Alps we try,Mount o'er the vales, and seem to tread the sky.Th' eternal snows appear already past,And the first clouds and mountains seem the last,But those attain'd, we tremble to surveyThe growing labours of the lengthen'd way.Th' increasing prospect tires our wand'ring eyes,Hills peep o'er hills, and Alps on Alps arise.Essay on Criticism.
Newton, as he had very little knowledge ofair, so he had few doubts concerning it. Had Dr. Hales, after his various and valuable investigations, given a list of all hisdesiderata, I am confident that he would not have thought of one in ten that had occurred to me at the time of my last publication; and my doubts, queries, and hints for new experiments are very considerably increased, after a series of investigations, which have thrown great light upon many things of which I was not able to give any explanation before.
I would observe farther, that a person who means to serve the cause of science effectually, must hazard his own reputation so far as to risk evenmistakesin things of less moment. Among a multiplicity of new objects, and new relations, some will necessarily pass without sufficient attention; but if a man be not mistaken in the principal objects of his pursuits, he has no occasion to distress himself about lesser things.
In the progress of his inquiries he will generally be able to rectify his own mistakes; or if little and envious souls should take a malignant pleasure in detecting them for him, and endeavouring to expose him, he is not worthy of the name of a philosopher, if he has not strength of mind sufficient to enable him not to be disturbed at it. He who does not foolishly affect to be above the failings of humanity, will not be mortified when it is proved that he is but a man.
In this work, as well as in all my other philosophical writings, I have made it arule not to conceal thereal viewswith which I have made experiments; because though, by following a contrary maxim, I might have acquired a character of greater sagacity, I think that two very good ends are answered by the method that I have adopted. For it both tends to make a narrative of a course of experiments more interesting, and likewise encourages other adventurers in experimental philosophy; shewing them that, by pursuing even false lights, real and important truths may be discovered, and that in seeking one thing we often find another.
In some respects, indeed, this method makes the narrativelonger, but it is by making it less tedious; and in other respects I have written much more concisely than is usual with those who publish accounts of their experiments. In this treatise the reader will often find the result of long processes expressed in a few lines, and of many such in a single paragraph; each of which, if I had, with the usual parade, described it at large (explaining first thepreparation, then reciting theexperimentitself, with theresultof it, and lastly making suitablereflections) would have made as many sections or chapters, and have swelled my book to a pompous and respectable size. But I have the pleasure to think that those philosophers who have but little time to spare forreading, which is always the case with those whodomuch themselves, will thank me for not keeping them too long from their own pursuits; and that they will find rather more in the volume, than the appearance of it promises.
I do not think it at all degrading to the business of experimental philosophy, to compare it, as I often do, to the diversion ofhunting, where it sometimes happens that those who have beat the ground the most, and are consequently the best acquainted with it, weary themselves without starting any game; when it may fall in the way of a mere passenger; so that there is but little room for boasting in the most successful termination of the chace.
The best founded praise is that which is due to the man, who, from a supreme veneration for the God of nature, takes pleasure in contemplating hisworks, and from a love of his fellow-creatures, as the offspring of the same all-wise and benevolent parent, with a grateful sense and perfect enjoyment of the means of happiness of which he is already possessed, seeks, with earnestness, but without murmuring or impatience, that greatercommand of the powers of nature, which can only be obtained by a more extensive and more accurateknowledgeof them; and which alone can enable us to avail ourselves of the numerous advantages with which we are surrounded, and contribute to make our common situation more secure and happy.
Besides, the man who believes that there is agovernoras well as amakerof the world (and there is certainly equal reason to believe both) will acknowledge his providence and favour at least as muchin a successful pursuit ofknowledge, as ofwealth; which is a sentiment that entirely cuts off all boasting with respect to ourselves, and all envy and jealousy with respect to others; and disposes us mutually to rejoice in every new light that we receive, through whose hands soever it be conveyed to us.
I shall pass for an enthusiast with some, but I am perfectly easy under the imputation, because I am happy in those views which subject me to it; but considering the amazing improvements in natural knowledge which have been made within the last century, and the many ages, abounding with men who had no other object but study, in which, however, nothing of this kind was done, there appears to me to be a very particular providence in the concurrence of those circumstances which have produced so great a change; and I cannot help flattering myself that this will be instrumental in bringing about other changes in the stateof the world, of much more consequence to the improvement and happiness of it.
This rapid progress of knowledge, which, like the progress of awaveof the sea, ofsound, or oflightfrom the sun, extends itself not this way or that way only, butin all directions, will, I doubt not, be the means, under God, of extirpatingallerror and prejudice, and of putting an end to all undue and usurped authority in the business ofreligion, as well as ofscience; and all the efforts of the interested friends of corrupt establishments of all kinds will be ineffectual for their support in this enlightened age: though, by retarding their downfal, they may make the final ruin of them more complete and glorious. It was ill policy in Leo the Xth to patronize polite literature. He was cherishing an enemy in disguise. And the English hierarchy (if there be any thing unsound in its constitution) has equal reason to tremble even at an air-pump, or an electrical machine.
There certainly never was any period in whichnatural knowledgemade such a progress as it has done of late years, and especially in this country; and they who affect to speak with supercilious contempt of the publications of the present age in general, or of the Royal Society in particular, are only those who are themselves engaged in the most trifling of all literary pursuits, who are unacquainted with all real science, and are ignorant of the progress and present state of it.[1]
It is true that the rich and the great in this country give less attention to these subjects than, I believe, they were ever known to do, since the time of Lord Bacon, and much less than men of rank and fortune in other countries give to them. But with us this loss ismade up by men of leisure, spirit, and ingenuity, in the middle ranks of life, which is a circumstance that promises better for the continuance of this progress in useful knowledge than any noble or royal patronage. With us, politics chiefly engage the attention of those who stand foremost in the community, which, indeed, arises from thefreedomand peculiarexcellenceof our constitution, without which even the spirit of men of letters in general, and of philosophers in particular, who never directly interfere in matters of government, would languish.
It is rather to be regretted, however, that, in such a number of nobility and gentry, so very few should have any taste for scientifical pursuits, because, for many valuable purposes of science,wealthgives a decisive advantage. If extensive and lastingfamebe at all an object, literary, and especially scientifical pursuits, are preferable to political ones in a variety of respects. The former are as much more favourable for the display of thehuman faculties than the latter, as thesystem of natureis superior to anypolitical systemupon earth.
If extensiveusefulnessbe the object, science has the same advantage over politics. The greatest success in the latter seldom extends farther than one particular country, and one particular age; whereas a successful pursuit of science makes a man the benefactor of all mankind, and of every age. How trifling is the fame of any statesman that this country has ever produced to that of Lord Bacon, of Newton, or of Boyle; and how much greater are our obligations to such men as these, than to any other in the wholeBiographia Britannica; and every country, in which science has flourished, can furnish instances for similar observations.
Here my reader will thank me, and the writer will, I hope, forgive me, if I quote a passage from the postscript of a letter which I happen to have just received from that excellent, and in myopinion, not too enthusiastical philosopher, father Beccaria of Turin.
Mi spiace che il mondo politico ch'è pur tanto passeggero, rubbi il grande Franklin al mondo della natura, che non sa ne cambiare, ne mancare.In English. "I am sorry that thepolitical world, which is so very transitory, should take the great Franklin from theworld of nature, which can never change, or fail."
Mi spiace che il mondo politico ch'è pur tanto passeggero, rubbi il grande Franklin al mondo della natura, che non sa ne cambiare, ne mancare.In English. "I am sorry that thepolitical world, which is so very transitory, should take the great Franklin from theworld of nature, which can never change, or fail."
I own it is with peculiar pleasure that I quote this passage, respecting this truly great man, at a time when some of the infatuated politicians of this country are vainly thinking to build their wretched and destructive projects, on the ruins of his established reputation; a reputation as extensive as the spread of science itself, and of which it is saying very little indeed, to pronounce that it will last and flourish when the names of all his enemies shall be forgotten.
I think it proper, upon this occasion, to inform my friends, and the public, that I have, for the present, suspended my design of writingthe history and present state of all the branches of experimental philosophy. This has arisen not from any dislike of the undertaking, but, in truth, because I see no prospect of being reasonably indemnified for so much labour and expence, notwithstanding the specimens I have already given of that work (in thehistory of electricity, and of thediscoveries relating to vision, light, and colours) have met with a much more favourable reception from the best judges both at home and abroad, than I expected. Immortality, if I should have any view to it, is not the proper price of such works as these.
I propose, however, having given so much attention to the subject ofair, to write, at my leisure, the history andpresent state of discoveries relating to it; in which case I shall, as a part of it, reprint this work, with such improvements as shall have occurred to me at that time; and I give this notice of it, that no person who intends to purchase it may have reason (being thus apprised of my intention) to complain of buying the same thing twice. If any person chuse it, he may save his five or six shillings for the present, and wait five or six years longer (if I should live so long) for the opportunity of buying the same thing, probably much enlarged, and at the same time a complete account of all that has been done by others relating to this subject.
Though for the plain, and I hope satisfactory reason above mentioned, I shall probably write no otherhistoriesof this kind, I shall, as opportunity serves, endeavour to providematerialsfor such histories, by continuing my experiments, keeping my eyes open to such new appearances as may present themselves, investigating them as far as I shall be able, andnever failing to communicate to the public, by some channel or other, the result of my observations.
In the publication of this work I have thought that it would be agreeable to my readers to preserve, in some measure, the order of history, and therefore I have not thrown together all that I have observed with respect to each kind of air, but have divided the work intotwo parts; the former containing what was published before, in the Philosophical Transactions, with such observations and corrections as subsequent experience has suggested to me; and I have reserved for the latter part of the work an account of the experiments which I have made since that publication, and after a pretty long interruption in my philosophical pursuits, in the course of the last summer. Besides I am sensible that in the latter part of this work a different arrangement of the subjects will be more convenient, for their mutual illustration.
Some persons object to the termair, as applied toacid,alkaline, and evennitrous air; but it is certainly very convenient to have a common term by which to denote things which have so many common properties, and those so very striking; all of them agreeing with the air in which we breathe, and withfixed air, inelasticity, andtransparency, and in being alike affected by heat or cold; so that to the eye they appear to have no difference at all. With much more reason, as it appears to me, might a person object to the common termmetal, as applied to things so very different from one another as gold, quicksilver, and lead.
Besides,acidandalkalineair do not differ fromcommon air(in any respect that can countenance an objection to their having a common appellation) except in such properties as are common to it withfixed air, though in a different degree; viz. that of being imbibed by water. But, indeed, all kinds of air, common air itself not excepted, are capable of being imbibed by water in some degree.
Some may think the terms acid and alkalinevapourmore proper than acid and alkalineair. But the termvapourhaving always been applied to elastic matters capable of being condensed in the temperature of the atmosphere, especially the vapour of water, it seems harsh to apply it to any elastic substance, which at the same time that it is as transparent as the air we breathe, is no more affected by cold than it is.
As my former papers were immediately translated into several foreign languages, I may presume that this treatise, having a better title to it, will be translated also; and, upon this presumption, I cannot help expressing a wish, that it may be done by persons who have a competent knowledge ofsubject, as well as of theEnglish language. The mistakes made by some foreigners, have induced me to give this caution.
London, Feb.1774.
Theweightsmentioned in the course of this treatise areTroy, and what is calledan ounce measure of air, is the space occupied by an ounce weight of water, which is equal to 480 grains, and is, therefore, almost twocubic inchesof water; for one cubic inch weighs 254 grains.
FOOTNOTES:[1]See Sir John Pringle'sDiscourse on the different kinds of air, p. 29, which, if it became me to do it, I would recommend to the reader, as containing a just and elegant account of the several discoveries that have been successively made, relating to the subject of this treatise.
[1]See Sir John Pringle'sDiscourse on the different kinds of air, p. 29, which, if it became me to do it, I would recommend to the reader, as containing a just and elegant account of the several discoveries that have been successively made, relating to the subject of this treatise.
[1]See Sir John Pringle'sDiscourse on the different kinds of air, p. 29, which, if it became me to do it, I would recommend to the reader, as containing a just and elegant account of the several discoveries that have been successively made, relating to the subject of this treatise.
TheINTRODUCTION.Section I.A general view ofpreceding Discoveriesrelating toAirPage1Sect. II.An Account of theApparatuswith which the following Experiments were made6PART I.Experiments and Observations made in, and before the Year 1772.23Sect. I.OfFixed Air25Sect. II.OfAirin which aCandle, orBrimstone, has burned out43Sect. III.Ofinflammable Air55Sect. IV.OfAirinfected withAnimal Respiration, orPutrefaction70Sect. V.OfAirin which a mixture ofBrimstoneandFilingsofIronhas stood105Sect. VI.OfNitrous Air108Sect. VII.OfAirinfected with thefumesofburning Charcoal129Sect. VIII.Of the effect of thecalcinationofMetals, and of theeffluviaofPaintmade withWhite-LeadandOil, onAir133Sect. IX.OfMarine Acid Air143Sect. X.Miscellaneous Observations154PART II.Experiments and Observations made in the Year 1773, and the Beginning of 1774.Sect. I.Observations onAlkaline Air163Sect. II.Ofcommon Airdiminished, and made noxious by various processes177Sect. III.OfNitrous Air203Sect. IV.OfMarine Acid Air229Sect. V.OfInflammable Air242Sect. VI.OfFixed Air248Sect. VII.Miscellaneous Experiments252Sect. VIII.Queries, Speculations, andHints258TheAPPENDIX.Number I.Experimentsmade by Mr. Hey to prove that there is noOilofVitriolin water impregnated withFixed Air288Number II.A Letter from Mr.Heyto Dr.Priestley, concerning the effects of fixed Air applied by way of Clyster292Number III.Observations on theMedicinal UsesofFixed Air. ByThomas Percival, M. D. Fellow of theRoyal Society, and of theSocietyofAntiquariesinLondon300Number IV.Extract of a Letter fromWilliam Falconer, M. D. ofBath314Number V.Extract of a Letter from Mr.William Bewley, ofGreat Massingham, Norfolk317Num. VI.A Letter from Dr.Franklin321Number VII.Extract of Letter from Mr.HenryofManchester323
For the better understanding of the experiments and observations on different kinds of air contained in this treatise, it will be useful to those who are not acquainted with the history of this branch of natural philosophy, to be informed of those facts which had been discovered by others, before I turned my thoughts to the subject; which suggested, and by the help of which I was enabled to pursue, my inquiries. Let it be observed, however, that I do not profess to recite in this placeallthat had been discovered concerning air, but only those discoveries the knowledge of which is necessary, in order to understand what I have done myself; so that any person who is only acquainted with the general principles of natural philosophy, may be able toread this treatise, and, with proper attention, to understand every part of it.
That the air which constitutes the atmosphere in which we live hasweight, and that it iselastic, or consists of a compressible and dilatable fluid, were some of the earliest discoveries that were made after the dawning of philosophy in this western part of the world.
That elastic fluids, differing essentially from the air of the atmosphere, but agreeing with it in the properties of weight, elasticity, and transparency, might be generated from solid substances, was discovered by Mr. Boyle, though two remarkable kinds of factitious air, at least the effects of them, had been known long before to all miners. One of these is heavier than common air. It lies at the bottom of pits, extinguishes candles, and kills animals that breathe it, on which account it had obtained the name of thechoke damp. The other is lighter than common air, taking its place near the roofs of subterraneous places, and because it is liable to take fire, and explode, like gunpowder, it had been called thefire damp. The worddampsignifiesvapourorexhalationin the German and Saxon language.
Though the former of these kinds of air had been known to be noxious, the latter I believe had not been discovered to be so, having always been found in its natural state, so much diluted with common air, as to be breathed with safety. Air of the former kind, besides having been discovered in various caverns, particularly thegrotta del Canein Italy, had also been observed on the surface of fermenting liquors, and had been calledgas(which is the same withgeist, orspirit) by Van Helmont, and other German chymists; but afterwards it obtained the name offixed air, especially after it had been discovered by Dr. Black of Edinburgh to exist, in a fixed state, in alkaline salts, chalk, and other calcareous substances.
This excellent philosopher discovered that it is the presence of the fixed air in these substances that renders themmild, and that when they are deprived of it, by the force of fire, or any other process, they are in that state which had been calledcaustic, from their corroding or burning animal and vegetable substances.
Fixed air had been discovered by Dr. Macbride of Dublin, after an observation of Sir John Pringle's, which led to it, to be in a considerable degree antiseptic; and since it isextracted in great plenty from fermenting vegetables, he had recommended the use ofwort(that is an infusion of malt in water) as what would probably give relief in the sea-scurvy, which is said to be a putrid disease.
Dr. Brownrigg had also discovered that the same species of air is contained in great quantities in the water of the Pyrmont spring at Spa in Germany, and in other mineral waters, which have what is called anaciduloustaste, and that their peculiar flavour, briskness, and medicinal virtues, are derived from this ingredient.
Dr. Hales, without seeming to imagine that there was any material difference between these kinds of air and common air, observed that certain substances and operationsgenerateair, and othersabsorbit; imagining that the diminution of air was simply a taking away from the common mass, without any alteration in the properties of what remained. His experiments, however, are so numerous, and various, that they are justly esteemed to be the solid foundation of all our knowledge of this subject.
Mr. Cavendish had exactly ascertained the specific gravities of fixed and inflammable air, shewing the former of them to be 1-1/2 heavierthan common air, and the latter ten times lighter. He also shewed that water would imbibe more than its own bulk of fixed air.
Lastly, Mr. Lane discovered that water thus impregnated with fixed air will dissolve a considerable quantity of iron, and thereby become a strong chalybeate.
These, I would observe, are by no means all the discoveries concerning air that have been made by the gentlemen whose names I have mentioned, and still less are they all that have been made by others; but they comprise all the previous knowledge of this subject that is necessary to the understanding of this treatise; except a few particulars, which will be mentioned in the course of the work, and which it is, therefore, unnecessary to recite in this place.
Rather than describe at large the manner in which every particular experiment that I shall have occasion to recite was made, which would both be very tedious, and require an unnecessary multiplicity of drawings, I think it more adviseable to give, at one view, an account of all my apparatus and instruments, or at least of every thing that can require a description, and of all the different operations and processes in which I employ them.
It will be seen that my apparatus for experiments on air is, in fact, nothing more than the apparatus of Dr. Hales, Dr. Brownrigg, and Mr. Cavendish, diversified, and made a little more simple. Yet notwithstanding the simplicity of this apparatus, and the ease with which all the operations are conducted, I would not have any person, who is altogether without experience, to imagine that he shall be able to select any of the following experiments, and immediately perform it, without difficulty orblundering. It is known to all persons who are conversant in experimental philosophy, that there are many little attentions and precautions necessary to be observed in the conducting of experiments, which cannot well be described in words, but which it is needless to describe, since practice will necessarily suggest them; though, like all other arts in which the hands and fingers are made use of, it is onlymuch practicethat can enable a person to go through complex experiments, of this or any other kind, with ease and readiness.
For experiments in which air will bear to be confined by water, I first used an oblong trough made of earthen ware, asafig. 1. about eight inches deep, at one end of which I put thin flat stones,b. b.about an inch, or half an inch, under the water, using more or fewer of them according to the quantity of water in the trough. But I have since found it more convenient to use a larger wooden trough, of the same general shape, eleven inches deep, two feet long, and 1-1/2 wide, with a shelf about an inch lower than the top, instead of the flat stones above-mentioned. This trough being larger than the former, I have no occasion to make provision for the water being higher or lower, the bulk of a jar or two not making so great a difference as did before.
The several kinds of air I usually keep incylindrical jars, asc,c, fig. 1, about ten inches long, and 2-1/2 wide, being such as I have generally used for electrical batteries, but I have likewise vessels of very different forms and sizes, adapted to particular experiments.
When I want to remove vessels of air from the large trough, I place them inpotsordishes, of various sizes, to hold more or less water, according to the time that I have occasion to keep the air, as fig. 2. These I plunge in water, and slide the jars into them; after which they may be taken out together, and be set wherever it shall be most convenient. For the purpose of merely removing a jar of air from one place to another, where it is not to stand longer than a few days, I make use of commontea-dishes, which will hold water enough for that time, unless the air be in a state of diminution, by means of any process that is going on in it.
If I want to try whether an animal will live in any kind of air, I first put the air into a small vessel, just large enough to give it room to stretch itself; and as I generally make use ofmicefor this purpose, I have found it very convenient to use the hollow part of a tall beer-glass,dfig. 1, which contains between two andthree ounce measures of air. In this vessel a mouse will live twenty minutes, or half an hour.
For the purpose of these experiments it is most convenient to catch the mice in small wire traps, out of which it is easy to take them, and holding them by the back of the neck, to pass them through the water into the vessel which contains the air. If I expect that the mouse will live a considerable time, I take care to put into the vessel something on which it may conveniently sit, out of the reach of the water. If the air be good, the mouse will soon be perfectly at its ease, having suffered nothing by its passing through the water. If the air be supposed to be noxious, it will be proper (if the operator be desirous of preserving the mice for farther use) to keep hold of their tails, that they may be withdrawn as soon as they begin to shew signs of uneasiness; but if the air be thoroughly noxious, and the mouse happens to get a full inspiration, it will be impossible to do this before it be absolutely irrecoverable.
In order tokeepthe mice, I put them into receivers open at the top and bottom, standing upon plates of tin perforated with many holes, and covered with other plates of the same kind, held down by sufficient weights, as fig. 3. Thesereceivers stand upona frame of wood, that the fresh air may have an opportunity of getting to the bottoms of them, and circulating through them. In the inside I put a quantity of paper or tow, which must be changed, and the vessel washed and dried, every two or three days. This is most conveniently done by having another receiver, ready cleaned and prepared, into which the mice may be transferred till the other shall be cleaned.
Mice must be kept in a pretty exact temperature, for either much heat or much cold kills them presently. The place in which I have generally kept them is a shelf over the kitchen fire-place where, as it is usual in Yorkshire, the fire never goes out; so that the heat varies very little, and I find it to be, at a medium, about 70 degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer. When they had been made to pass through the water, as they necessarily must be in order to a change of air, they require, and will bear a very considerable degree of heat, to warm and dry them.
I found, to my great surprize, in the course of these experiments, that mice will live intirely without water; for though I have kept them for three or four months, and have offered them water several times, they would never taste it;and yet they continued in perfect health and vigour. Two or three of them will live very peaceably together in the same vessel; though I had one instance of a mouse tearing another almost in pieces, and when there was plenty of provisions for both of them.
In the same manner in which a mouse is put into a vessel of any kind of air, aplant, or any thing else, may be put into it, viz. by passing it through the water; and if the plant be of a kind that will grow in water only, there will be no occasion to set it in a pot of earth, which will otherwise be necessary.
There may appear, at first sight, some difficulty in opening the mouth of a phial, containing any substance, solid or liquid, to which water must not be admitted, in a jar of any kind of air, which is an operation that I have sometimes had recourse to; but this I easily effect by means ofa cork cut tapering, and a strong, wire thrust through it, as in fig. 4, for in this form it will sufficiently fit the mouth of any phial, and by holding the phial in one hand, and the wire in the other, and plunging both my hands into the trough of water, I can easily convey the phial through the water into the jar; which must either be held by an assistant, or be fastened by strings, with its mouth projectingover the shelf. When the phial is thus conveyed into the jar, the cork may easily be removed, and may also be put into it again at pleasure, and conveyed the same way out again.
When any thing, as a gallipot, &c. is to be supported at a considerable height within a jar, it is convenient to have suchwire standsas are represented fig. 5. They answer better than any other, because they take up but little room, and may be easily bended to any shape or height.
If I have occasion to pour air from a vessel with a wide mouth into another with a very narrow one, I am obliged to make use of a funnel, fig. 6, but by this means the operation is exceedingly easy; first filling the vessel into which the air is to be conveyed with water, and holding the mouth of it, together with the funnel, both under water with one hand, while the other is employed in pouring the air; which, ascending through the funnel up into the vessel, makes the water descend, and takes its place. These funnels are best made of glass, because the air being visible through them, the quantity of it may be more easily estimated by the eye.It will be convenient to have several of these funnels of different sizes.
In order to expel air from solid substances by means of heat, I sometimes put them into agun-barrel, fig. 7, and filling it up with dry sand, that has been well burned, so that no air can come from it, I lute to the open end the stem of a tobacco pipe, or a small glass tube. Then having put the closed end of the barrel, which contains the materials, into the fire, the generated air, issuing through the tube, may be received in a vessel of quicksilver, with its mouth immersed in a bason of the same, suspended all together in wires, in the manner described in the figure: or any other fluid substance may be used instead of quicksilver.
But the most accurate method of procuring air from several substances, by means of heat, is to put them, if they will bear it, into phials full of quicksilver, with the mouths immersed in the same, and then throw the focus of a burning mirror upon them. For this purpose the phials should be made with their bottoms round, and very thin, that they may not be liable to break with a pretty sudden application of heat.
If I want to expel air from any liquid, I nearly fill a phial with it, and having a cork perforated, I put through it, and secure with cement, a glass tube, bended in the manner represented atefig. 1. I then put the phial into a kettle of water, which I set upon the fire and make to boil. The air expelled by the heat, from the liquor contained in the phial, issues through the tube, and is received in the bason of quicksilver, fig. 7. Instead of this suspended bason, I sometimes content myself with tying a flaccid bladder to the end of the tube, in both these processes, that it may receive the newly generated air.
In experiments on those kinds of air which are readily imbibed by water, I always make use of quicksilver, in the manner represented fig. 8, in whichais the bason of quicksilver,ba glass vessel containing quicksilver, with its mouth immersed in it,ca phial containing the ingredients from which the air is to be produced; anddis a small recipient, or glass vessel designed to receive and intercept any liquor that may be discharged along with the air, which is to be transmitted free from any moisture into the vesselb. If there be no apprehension of moisture, I make use of the glass tube only, without any recipient, in the manner representedefig. 1. In order to invert the vesselb, I firstfill it with quicksilver, and then carefully cover the mouth of it with a piece of soft leather; after which it may be turned upside down without any danger of admitting the air, and the leather may be withdrawn when it is plunged in the quicksilver.
In order to generate air by the solution of metals, or any process of a similar nature, I put the materials into a phial, prepared in the manner represented atefig. 1, and put the end of the glass tube under the mouth of any vessel into which I want to convey the air. If heat be necessary I can easily apply to it a candle, or a red hot poker while it hangs in this position.
When I have occasion to transfer air from a jar standing in the trough of water to a vessel standing in quicksilver, or in any other situation whatever, I make use of the contrivance represented fig. 9, which consists of a bladder, furnished at one end with a small glass tube bended, and at the other with a cork, perforated so as just to admit the small end of a funnel. When the common air is carefully pressed out of this bladder, and the funnel is thrust tightly into the cork, it may be filled with any kind of air as easily as a glass jar; and then a string being tied above the cork in which the funnel is inserted,and the orifice in the other cork closed, by pressing the bladder against it, it may be carried to any place, and if the tube be carefully wiped, the air may be conveyed quite free from moisture through a body of quicksilver, or any thing else. A little practice will make this very useful manœuvre perfectly easy and accurate.
In order to impregnate fluids with any kind of air, as water with fixed air, I fill a phial with the fluid larger or less as I have occasion (asafig. 10;) and then inverting it, place it with its mouth downwards, in a bowlb, containing a quantity of the same fluid; and having filled the bladder, fig. 9, with the air, I throw as much of it as I think proper into the phial, in the manner described above. To accelerate the impregnation, I lay my hand on the top of the phial, and shake it as much as I think proper.
If, without having any air previously generated, I would convey it into the fluid immediately as it arises from the proper materials, I keep the same bladder in connection with a phialcfig. 10, containing the same materials (as chalk, salt of tartar, or pearl ashes in diluted oil of vitriol, for the generation of fixed air) and taking care, lest, in the act of effervescence, any of the materials in the phialcshould get into the vessela, to place this phial on a stand lower than that on which the bason was placed, I press out the newly generated air, and make it ascend directly into the fluid. For this purpose, and that I may more conveniently shake the phialc, which is necessary in some processes, especially with chalk and oil of vitriol, I sometimes make use of a flexible leathern tubed, and sometimes only a glass tube. For if the bladder be of a sufficient length, it will give room for the agitation of the phial; or if not, it is easy to connect two bladders together by means of a perforated cork, to which they may both be fastened.
When I want to try whether any kind of air will admit a candle to burn in it, I make use of a cylindrical glass vessel, fig. 11. and a bit of wax candleafig. 12, fastened to the end of a wireb, and turned up, in such a manner as to be let down into the vessel with the flame upwards. The vessel should be kept carefully covered till the moment that the candle is admitted. In this manner I have frequently extinguished a candle more than twenty times successively, in a vessel of this kind, though it is impossible to dip the candle into it without giving the external air an opportunity of mixing with the air in the inside more or less. The candlec, at the other end of the wire isvery convenient for holding under a jar standing in water, in order to burn as long as the inclosed air can supply it; for the moment that it is extinguished, it may be drawn through the water before any smoke can have mixed with the air.
In order to draw air out of a vessel which has its mouth immersed in water, and thereby to raise the water to whatever height may be necessary, it is very convenient to make use of a glasssyphon, fig. 13, putting one of the legs up into the vessel, and drawing the air out at the other end by the mouth. If the air be of a noxious quality, it may be necessary to have a syringe fastened to the syphon, the manner of which needs no explanation. I have not thought it safe to depend upon a valve at the top of the vessel, which Dr. Hales sometimes made use of.
If, however, a very small hole be made at the top of a glass vessel, it may be filled to any height by holding it under water, while the air is issuing out at the hole, which may then be closed with wax or cement.
If the generated air will neither be absorbed by water, nor diminish common air, it may be convenient to put part of the materials into a cup, supported by a stand, and the other partinto a small glass vessel, placed on the edge of it, as atf, fig. 1. Then having, by means of a syphon, drawn the air to at convenient height, the small glass vessel may be easily pushed into the cup, by a wire introduced through the water; or it may be contrived, in a variety of ways, only to discharge the contents of the small vessel into the larger. The distance between the boundary of air and water, before and after the operation, will shew the quantity of the generated air. The effect of processes thatdiminishair may also be tried by the same apparatus.
When I want to admit a particular kind of air to any thing that will not bear wetting, and yet cannot be conveniently put into a phial, and especially if it be in the form of a powder, and must be placed upon a stand (as in those experiments in which the focus of a burning mirror is to be thrown upon it) I first exhaust a receiver, in which it is previously placed; and having a glass tube, bended for the purpose, as in fig. 14, I screw it to the stem of a transfer of the air pump on which the receiver had been exhausted, and introducing it through the water into a jar of that kind of air with which I would fill the receiver, I only turn the cock, and I gain my purpose. In this method, however, unless the pump be verygood, and several contrivances, too minute to be particularly described, be made use of a good deal of common air will get into the receiver.
When I want to measure the goodness of any kind of air, I put two measures of it into a jar standing in water; and when I have marked upon the glass the exact place of the boundary of air and water, I put to it one measure of nitrous air; and after waiting a proper time, note the quantity of its diminution. If I be comparing two kinds of air that are nearly alike, after mixing them in a large jar, I transfer the mixture into a long glass tube, by which I can lengthen my scale to what degree I please.
If the quantity of the air, the goodness of which I want to ascertain, be exceedingly small, so as to be contained in a part of a glass tube, out of which water will not run spontaneously, asafig. 15; I first measure with a pair of compasses the length of the column of air in the tube, the remaining part being filled with water, and lay it down upon a scale; and then, thrusting a wire of a proper thickness,b, into the tube, I contrive, by means of a thin plate of iron, bent to a sharp anglec, to draw it out again, when the wholeof this little apparatus has been introduced through the water into a jar of nitrous air; and the wire being drawn out, the air from the jar must supply its place. I then measure the length of this column of nitrous air which I have got into the tube, and lay it also down upon the scale, so as to know the exact length of both the columns. After this, holding the tube under water, with a small wire I force the two separate columns of air into contact, and when they have been a sufficient time together, I measure the length of the whole, and compare it with the length of both the columns taken before. A little experience will teach the operator how far to thrust the wire into the tube, in order to admit as much air as he wants and no more.
In order to take the electric spark in a quantity of any kind of air, which must be very small, to produce a sensible effect upon it, in a short time, by means of a common machine, I put a piece of wire into the end of a small tube, and fasten it with hot cement, as in fig. 16; and having got the air I want into the tube by means of the apparatus fig. 15, I place it inverted in a bason containing either quicksilver, or any other fluid substance by which I chuse to have the air confined. I then, by the help of the air pump, drive out as much of the air as I think convenient, admitting thequicksilver, &c. to it, as ata, and putting a brass ball on the end of the wire, I take the sparks or shocks upon it, and thereby transmit them through the air to the liquor in the tube.
To take the electric sparks in any kind of fluid, as oil, &c. I use the same apparatus described above, and having poured into the tube as much of the fluid as I conjecture I can make the electric spark pass through, I fill the rest with quicksilver; and placing it inverted in a bason of quicksilver, I take the sparks as before.
If air be generated very fast by this process, I use a tube that is narrow at the top, and grows wider below, as fig. 17, that the quicksilver may not recede too soon beyond the striking distance.
Sometimes I have used a different apparatus for this purpose, represented fig. 18. Taking a pretty wide glass tube, hermetically sealed at the upper-end, and open below, at about an inch, or at what distance I think convenient from the top, I get two holes made in it, opposite to each other. Through these I put two wires, and fastening them with warm cement, I fix them at what distance I please from each other. Between these wires I take the sparks, and the bubbles of air rise, as they are formed, to the top of the tube.
In writing upon the subject ofdifferent kinds of air, I find myself at a loss for properterms, by which to distinguish them, those which have hitherto obtained being by no means sufficiently characteristic, or distinct. The only terms in common use are,fixed air,mephitic, andinflammable. The last, indeed, sufficiently characterizes and distinguishes that kind of air which takes fire, and explodes on the approach of flame; but it might have been termedfixedwith as much propriety as that to which Dr. Black and others have given that denomination, since it is originally part of some solid substance, and exists in an unelastic state.
All these newly discovered kinds of air may also be calledfactitious; and if, with others, we use the termfixable, it is still obvious to remark, that it is applicable to them all; since they are all capable of being imbibed by some substance or other, and consequently of beingfixedin them, after they have been in an elastic state.
The termmephiticis equally applicable to what is calledfixed air, to that which isinflammable, and to many other kinds; since they are equally noxious, when breathed by animals. Rather, however, than either introduce new terms, or change the signification of old ones, I shall use the termfixed air, in the sense in which it is now commonly used, and distinguish the other kinds by their properties, or some other periphrasis. I shall be under a necessity, however, of giving names to those kinds of air, to which no names had been given by others, asnitrous,acid, andalkaline.
It was in consequence of living for some time in the neighbourhood of a public brewery, that I was induced to make experiments on fixed air, of which there is always a large body, ready formed, upon the surface of the fermenting liquor, generally about nine inches, or a foot in depth, within which any kind of substance may be very conveniently placed; and though, in these circumstances, the fixed air must be continually mixing with the common air, and is therefore far from being perfectly pure, yet there is a constant fresh supply from the fermenting liquor, and it is pure enough for many purposes.
A person, who is quite a stranger to the properties of this kind of air, would be agreeably amused with extinguishing lighted candles, or chips of wood in it, as it lies upon the surface of the fermenting liquor; for the smoke readily unites with this kind of air, probably by means of the water which it contains; so that very little or none of the smoke will escape into the open air, which is incumbent upon it. It is remarkable, that the upper surface of thissmoke, floating in the fixed air, is smooth, and well defined; whereas the lower surface is exceedingly ragged, several parts hanging down to a considerable distance within the body of the fixed air, and sometimes in the form of balls, connected to the upper stratum by slender threads, as if they were suspended. The smoke is also apt to form itself into broad flakes, parallel to the surface of the liquor, and at different distances from it, exactly like clouds. These appearances will sometimes continue above an hour, with very little variation. When this fixed air is very strong, the smoke of a small quantity of gunpowder fired in it will be wholly retained by it, no part escaping into the common air.
Making an agitation in this air, the surface of it, (which still continues to be exactly defined) is thrown into the form of waves, which it is very amusing to look upon; and if, by this agitation, any of the fixed air be thrown over the side of the vessel, the smoke, which is mixed with it, will fall to the ground, as if it was so much water, the fixed air being heavier than common air.
The red part of burning wood was extinguished in this air, but I could not perceive that a red-hot poker was sooner cooled in it.
Fixed air does not instantly mix with common air. Indeed if it did, it could not be caught upon the surface of the fermenting liquor. A candle put under a large receiver, and immediately plunged very deep below the surface of the fixed air, will burn some time. But vessels with the smallest orifices, hanging with their mouths downwards in the fixed air, willin timehave the common air, which they contain, perfectly mixed with it. When the fermenting liquor is contained in vessels close covered up, the fixed air, on removing the cover, readily affects the common air which is contiguous to it; so that, candles held at a considerable distance above the surface will instantly go out. I have been told by the workmen, that this will sometimes be the case, when the candles are held two feet above the mouth of the vessel.
Fixed air unites with the smoke of rosin, sulphur, and other electrical substances, as well as with the vapour of water; and yet, by holding the wire of a charged phial among these fumes, I could not make any electrical atmosphere, which surprized me a good deal, as there was a large body of this smoke, and it was so confined, that it could not escape me.
I also held some oil of vitriol in a glass vessel within the fixed air, and by plunging apiece of red-hot glass into it, raised a copious and thick fume. This floated upon the surface of the fixed air like other fumes, and continued as long.
Considering the near affinity between water and fixed air, I concluded that if a quantity of water was placed near the yeast of the fermenting liquor, it could not fail to imbibe that air, and thereby acquire the principal properties of Pyrmont, and some other medicinal mineral waters. Accordingly, I found, that when the surface of the water was considerable, it always acquired the pleasant acidulous taste that Pyrmont water has. The readiest way of impregnating water with this virtue, in these circumstances, is to take two vessels, and to keep pouring the water from one into the other, when they are both of them held as near the yeast as possible; for by this means a great quantity of surface is exposed to the air, and the surface is also continually changing. In this manner, I have sometimes, in the space of two or three minutes, made a glass of exceedingly pleasant sparkling water, which could hardly be distinguished from very good Pyrmont, or rather Seltzer water.
But themost effectualway of impregnating water with fixed air is to put the vessels which contain the water into glass jars, filled with thepurest fixed air made by the solution of chalk in diluted oil of vitriol, standing in quicksilver. In this manner I have, in about two days, made a quantity of water to imbibe more than an equal bulk of fixed air, so that, according to Dr. Brownrigg's experiments, it must have been much stronger than the best imported Pyrmont; for though he made his experiments at the spring-head, he never found that it contained quite so much as half its bulk of this air. If a sufficient quantity of quicksilver cannot be procured,oilmay be used with sufficient advantage, for this purpose, as it imbibes the fixed air very slowly. Fixed air may be kept in vessels standing in water for a long time, if they be separated by a partition of oil, about half an inch thick. Pyrmont water made in these circumstances, is little or nothing inferior to that which has stood in quicksilver.
Thereadiestmethod of preparing this water for use is to agitate it strongly with a large surface exposed to the fixed air. By this means more than an equal bulk of air may be communicated to a large quantity of water in the space of a few minutes. But since agitation promotes the dissipation of fixed air from water, it cannot be made to imbibe so great a quantity in this method as in the former, where more time is taken.
Easy directions for impregnating water with fixed air I have published in a small pamphlet, designed originally for the use of seamen in long voyages, on the presumption that it might be of use for preventing or curing the sea scurvy, equally with wort, which was recommended by Dr. Macbride for this purpose, on no other account than its property of generating fixed air, by its fermentation in the stomach.
Water thus impregnated with fixed air readily dissolves iron, as Mr. Lane has discovered; so that if a quantity of iron filings be put to it, it presently becomes a strong chalybeate, and of the mildest and most agreeable kind.
I have recommended the use ofchalkand oil of vitriol as the cheapest, and, upon the whole, the best materials for this purpose. But some persons preferpearl ashes,pounded marble, or other calcareous oralkaline substances; and perhaps with reason. My own experience has not been sufficient to enable me to decide in this case.
Whereas some persons had suspected that a quantity of the oil of vitriol was rendered volatile by this process, I examined it, by all the chemical methods that are in use; but couldnot find that water thus impregnated contained the least perceivable quantity of that acid.
Mr. Hey, indeed, who assisted me in this examination, found that distilled water, impregnated with fixed air, did not mix so readily with soap as the distilled water itself; but this was also the case when the fixed air had passed through a long glass tube filled with alkaline salts, which, it may be supposed, would have imbibed any of the oil of vitriol that might have been contained in that air[2].
Fixed air itself may be said to be of the nature of an acid, though of a weak and peculiar sort.——Mr. Bergman of Upsal, who honoured me with a letter upon the subject, calls it theaërial acid, and, among other experiments to prove it to be an acid, he says that it changes the blue juice of tournesole into red. This Mr. Hey found to be true, and he moreover discovered that when water tinged blue with the juice of tournesole, and then red with fixed air, has been exposed to the open air, it recovers its blue colour again.
The heat of boiling water will expel all the fixed air, if a phial containing the impregnatedwater be held in it; but it will often require above half an hour to do it completely.
Dr. Percival, who is particularly attentive to every improvement in the medical art, and who has thought so well of this impregnation as to prescribe it in several cases, informs me that it seems to be much stronger, and sparkles more, like the true Pyrmont water, after it has been kept some time. This circumstance, however, shews that, in time, the fixed air is more easily disengaged from the water; and though, in this state, it may affect the taste more sensibly, it cannot be of so much use in the stomach and bowels, as when the air is more firmly retained by the water.