History of Air-Analysis 



63 



By means of the apparatus described by Atwater and Benedict, 1 

 Miss Charlotte R. Manning 2 made a number of air-analyses at Middle- 

 town, Connecticut, the details of which are given in table 45. 



In 1904 Chandler 3 reported a series of analyses made of 50 samples of 

 air collected in the New York subway, the content of oxygen ranging from 

 20.3 to 20.8 per cent. Determinations were also made of the oxygen in 

 9 samples of surface air; the results ranging from 20.6 to 20.9 per cent. 



Table 45. Determinations of oxygen in atmospheric air, made at 

 Wesley an University in Middletown, Connecticut. 



Pecoul and Gizolme 4 published in 1903 the description of their method 

 of air-analysis, in which they employed a unique absorption apparatus 

 and potassium pyrogallate. They also published the results of an analy- 

 sis of an air sample collected in Paris at Place Lobau, the percentage of 

 carbon dioxide obtained being 0.03 and of oxygen 20.85. 



Utilizing the extremely ingenious manometer and compensating de- 

 vice of his earlier apparatus, Pettersson and Hogland 5 so modified this 

 apparatus as to determine not only the carbon dioxide but also the oxygen, 

 using sodium hydrosulphite as the absorbing agent. They report the 

 average of all the oxygen determinations made by them in Stockholm in 

 October, November, and December 1889 as 20.940 per cent. Unfortu- 

 nately, although the authors promised further details and additional re- 

 sults, no published report has as yet appeared; nor did a personal visit 

 to Stockholm result in obtaining further information. 



That this method was extremely promising was foreseen by Jaquet, 8 

 who, in connection with the development of his most ingenious respiration 

 apparatus, felt the imperative need of exact oxygen determinations. Em- 

 ploying an apparatus modeled after the design of Pettersson, but using 



1 Atwater and Benedict, Carnegie Institution of Washington Publication No. 42, 1905. 



2 Unpublished data from laboratory note-book. 



3 Chandler, The air of the subway, New York, 1904 (privately printed). 



4 Pecoul and Gizolme, Annales d'Observatoire Municipal (Observatoire de Mont 

 Souris), Paris, 1903, 4, p. 184. 



6 Pettersson and Hogland, Berichte der deutschen chemischen Gesellschaft, 1889, 22, 

 p. 3324. 



6 Jaquet, Verhandlungen der naturforschenden Gesellschaft in Basel, 1904, 15, p. 252. 



