Snow contains no Oxygen. izt 



But'fnow water does not even contain oxygen in a combined ftatc, as Haflenfratz pretends. 

 J have proved this by the mod decided experiments. If melted fnow be oxygenated water, 

 containing oxygen in the ftate of combination, it will follow that when expofed to the fun 

 h will emit the oxygen again in the gafceous form, by the combination of caloric and light, 

 precifely in the fame manner as it efcapes and ftiews itfelf when the nitric or oxygenated 

 muriatic acids are expofed to the folar light. But certainly fmce fnow water does not con- 

 tain oxygen in folution, butcan abforb it fucceflively as often as it is expofed to the atmo- 

 fphere, it muft at leaft, if this principle do exift in fnow, contain it in the aggregate ftatc. 

 I therefore, in the month of September, in the present year, put very pure fnow in fmall 

 pieces into a fmall glafs bottle with a narrow neck, and before it was entirely melted, I 

 poured oil upon its^furface, in order to prevent the communication with the ^ir, and after- 

 wards expofed it for three fucceffive days to the fun ; io that the whole time of expofure 

 amounted to eighteen hours ; and afterwards, having well cleared it of the oil, I introduced 

 a fmall fifli : it died inftantly, as in the fnow water immediately after liquefadlion. And not- 

 withftanding the long expofure to the fun, which rendered it very perceptibly warm, though I 

 obferved it with every poffible attention, I never perceived the fmaileft bubble or indicatio 

 of oxygen. Ccnfequently it cannot be admitted that this water was charged with oxygen 

 in combination, becaufe it mufi: have efcaped in the form of gas ; and if it had afterwards 

 abforbed it, the fifli, which is the fureft indication of the fmaileft quantity of o.xygen in water, 

 would have availed itfelf of it, and lived for fome time. 



The experiments of Haflenfratz, which feem to prove by analyfis the prefence of com- 

 bined oxygen in fnow water, are not, in my apprehenfion, conclufive, becaufe they are not 

 confirmed by fynthefis. It is not an exclufive property of water faturated with pure oxygen 

 in a combined ftate to alter the tindlurc of turnfol to a red colour, and to precipitate the folu« 

 tion of fulphate of iron. 



It has already been obferved by Bergman, in his analyfis of waters, that fnow recently lique- 

 fied is abfoJutely without air ; but his aflertion is not well proved, becaufe the method he made 

 ufe of to afcertain the exiftence of vital air, or oxygen in water, namely, boiling, is abfolutely 

 imperfedt. Water retains its oxygen too ftrongly, to allow its being extraited by boiling, as 

 this experiment would require. I filled a fmall matrafs with well water, and boiled it for an 

 hour and a half, and upon taking it from the fire, I poured it out beneath oil, in order that no 

 air might enter. When it was cold, I took ofF the oil and put in a fifh, immediately after 

 which I covered it again with oil-olive. Notwithftanding the boiling, the fifh found a fuf- 

 ficient quantity of oxygen in this water to enable him to live more than three hours. 



Frefli water fifli are true eudiometers for water,- for when they refpire, they have the faculty 

 of abforbing all the oxygen it contains. From this property, natuial philofophers may 

 have recourfe to tbem for meafuring the quantity of oxygen contained in difi^erent 

 waters, by taking fifh of the fame fpecies and fize, and obferving the time they live in equal 

 quantities of the water. In this way a feries of experiment? might be inftii ited, to deter- 

 mine the true proportions of oxygen contained in differeni waters ; as has been done byKontana, 

 though by the uncertain method of boiling. But it will be neceflary to take into confidera- ' 



Vd. III.— June 1799. - R tion 



X 



