230 EXPERIMENTS OF GASES ABSORBED BY WATER 



gas condenfible in water, at the temperature of 55° of Fahren- 

 heit. Dr. Prieftley aifo, about the fame period, directed hi$ 

 attention to the faturation of water with fixed air, and con- 

 trived a fimple and effectual mode of obtaining this impregna- 

 tion. His apparatus, afterwards, gave way to the more ma- 

 nageable one of Dr. Nootb ; and this, in its turn, has been 

 (uperfeded by the improved mode of condenfing, into water^ 

 many times its bulk of various gafes, invented and pra6tife4 

 by (everal chemical artills, (as well as by myfelf,) both in this 

 country and abroad. 

 Preflure. The influence of prefiure, in accomplifhing this ftrong im- 



pregnation, was firft, I believe, fuggefted by Dr. Pneftley. 

 " In an exhaufted receiver/* that mod ingenious philofopher 

 pbferves, " Pyrmont water will actually boil, by the copious 

 difcharge of its air ; and I do not doubt, therefore, that 

 by means of a condenfing engine, water might be much more 

 highly impregnated with the virtues of the Pyrmont fpring *." 



Before defcribing my experiments on the effects of addi- 

 tional preflTure, in faturatiug water with gafes, it will be ne- 

 ceflary to ftate the refults of others, that were previoufly ex- 

 pedient, to determine the quantity of each gas combinable 

 with water, at a given temperature, and under the ordinary 

 weight of the almofpbere. In a few instances, alfo, it was 

 deemed proper to afcertain the influence of different tempe- 

 ratures, over the condenfation of gafes in water. 



SECTION I. 



ON THE QUANTITY OF GASES ABSORBED BY WATER, 

 ' . UNDEK THE USUAL PRESSURE OF THE ATMOSPHERE. 



A pautus for ? n or der to attain confulerable minutenefs in obferving the 

 fhewing the proportion of gafes ablot bed by water, an apparatus was em- 

 P^ r ° b r ^ ofgas ployed, of which the following is a defcription. 

 water. The veflTel A (Plate J. Fig. 1.) is of glafs, about 2 inches 



diameter, and 4-| inches long. Jt is graduated into cubical 

 inches, and quarter inches ; and furniflied at the top with a 

 brafs cap, into which a cock a js fcrewed. To the lower aper- 

 ture, a copper tube C is cemented, which is bent at a right 

 angle, the leg neareft the veflel being carried downwards, and 



* Experiments on Air, arranged and methodized, Vol. J. p. 51, 



furniflied 



