EXPERIMENTS OF GASES ABSORBED BY WATER. O^Q 



in the manner already defcribed ; apply the increafed preflure; 

 and, having flint the two additional cocks, unfcrew them from 

 each other. The veflel A will thus be detached, and agita- 

 tion may be eafily applied ; after which, again fcrew it into 

 its former place, and, on opening the two cocks, the mercury 

 will rife in the veflel A. Supply the defcent in B by frefli 

 mercury, and proceed as before, repeating alternately the 

 preflure and agitation, as long as any further abforption takes 

 plmce. 



A further amendment of the apparatus, would confift in the 

 fubftitution of cocks of fome other metal than brafs, which, 

 however perfect at firft, are always injured by the repeated 

 action of the mercury. If cocks of glafs could be ground Ef- 

 ficiently tight, metal caps with fcrews might be cemented to 

 them. 



For obferving the increafed abforption of lefs condenfible Operation under 

 gafes, I found it neceflary to fubftitute a veflel of larger fize^J? "Jforbablc * 

 than A, and of the capacity of at leaft 50 cubical inches. It is gafes. 

 reprefented by the dotted lines in Fig. I, and was furniflied 

 with a cock and fcrew at c. As it would have been trouble- 

 fome to have filled fo large a veflel entirely with quickfilver, 

 it was filled with boiled water, with the exception of a quan- 

 tity of quickfilver rather exceeding the bulk of the gas em- 

 ployed. The gas was admitted, as ufual, from a transfer bottle, 

 the mercury which it replaced efcaping through the cock b. 

 The increafed preflure was next applied ; and the experiment 

 conducted as before, except that the agitation was much longer 

 continued. 



The refults of a feries of at leaft fifty experiments, on car- General law. 



bonic acid, fulphuretted hydrogen gas, nitrous oxide, oxy- Water at 1,ke 



genous and azotic gafes, with the above apparatus, eftablifh always abforbs 



the following general law : that, under equal circumfiances o/' tne fame bulk °* 

 i •»//*;/. j d S as > however 



temperature, water takes up, m all cojes, the fame volume of con- ^nfe or rare, 



denfed gas as of gas under ordinary preffure. But, as the fpaces 



occupied by every gas are inverfely as the compreffing force, 



it follows, that water takes up, of gas condenfed by one, two, orandconfequently 



more additional atmofpheres, a quantity which, ordinarily com-* ma f s or ' ?***- 



. . i.i tity proportional 



preffed, would be equal to twice, thnce, fyc. the volume abforbed t0 tne preffure, 



under the common preffure of the atmofphere. By frequent re- , 



petion of the experiments, I obtained refults differing a little 



from 



