THE 



LONDON AND EDINBURGH 



PHFLOSOPHICAL MAGAZINE 



AND 



JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. 



— ♦ 



tTHIRD SERIES.] 



JANUARY 1838. 



I. Besearckes on the Maximum Density of Liquids. By C. 



Despretz.* 

 npHIS work, says the author, will be divided into two parts. 

 ■*• The first memoir will contain a series of experiments on 

 the determination of the temperature of the maximum density 

 of pure water, and on the dilatation of that fluid from this 

 maximum to its boiling point, and on the other hand to — 13° 

 Cent. The second will consist of the results of the experiments 

 on the maximum density of sea-water, and on the general 

 course of the phsenomenon in aqueous, saline, acid, alkaline, 

 and alcoholic solutions of different degrees of concentration. 



Extract from the First Memoir, 

 From 1832 and 1833, I have been occupied in the investi- 

 gation of these subjects, and have laid some of the results 

 before the Academy. Since that time I have repeated and 

 modified the experiments, so that I believe I have now ar- 

 rived at results more certain and general. I proved that all 

 saline solutions have, like pure water, a maximum density. 

 I at first only wished to know whether sea-water did or did 

 not possess a maximum. It is known that Marcet of Geneva 

 and Ermann of Berlin, the only two physicists who have of 

 later date devoted themselves to experimental researches on 

 this subject, did not find a maximum ; we shall see the reason 

 of this in the second memoir. The solution of this problem 



* Translated by Mr. W. Francis, from an Extract by MM. Gay-Lussac, 

 Arago, and Becquerel, given in the Comptes Rendus de I* Academic des 

 Sciences, 1837; vol. iv. pp. 124, 435. 



Phil, Mag, S. 3. Vol. 12. No. 71. Jan, 1838. B 



