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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



of Fig. 2, C, till a little secondary ring is formed, which sometimes 

 remains attached, is at other times separated and divided into several 

 others, that will, if they are small enough, continue for a long time 

 suspended in the liquid. 



All of these little rings, with the curved filaments supporting them, 

 form in the water a very marked figure a kind of diadem, a fantastic 

 hydra, or a diaphanous cup (Fig. 2, B) the singular figure of which 

 causes us to neglect at first certain less visible details in which the real 

 mechanism of the phenomenon is revealed ; and a very light or a very 

 dark ground, according to the character of the colored liquid, is 

 required in order to discover the frame-work and the processes of the 

 formation. 



Rings of vapor are capable of attaining considerable dimensions 

 without breaking. If we take a box, make a hole in it, substitute a 

 stretched cloth or plate of metal for one of its sides, and develop in 

 it vapors of phosphoric acid or muriate of ammonia, we can easily by 



Fig. 5. The same experiment, performed with a box made of playing-cards. The box is filled 

 from the mouth at the hole in the upper side. 



means of a slight blow cause wreaths several inches in diameter, 

 exhibiting the structural details of the liquid rings, to shoot out to a 

 considerable distance. A soap-bubble filled with smoke produces sim- 

 ilar effects when it bursts ; and a cubic box made of playing-cards 



