Manchester Memoirs, Vol. xlvii. (1902), No. 3. 



III. On the Action of Alkalies on Glass and on 

 Paraffin. 



By FraxNXIs Jones, M.Sc, F.R.S.E., F.C.S. 



Kcceivid and read Novei/iber 4th, igo2. 



Action on Glass. 



Many investigations have been made on the action of 

 water and of alkalies on glass, both at the ordinary 

 temperature and with boiling solutions, and there is a 

 general agreement that the glass is acted on sooner or 

 later by water, and still more by alkaline solutions. 

 Recently the subject has received much attention, owing 

 to the extensive use of a test for determining the amount 

 of carbon dioxide in air, which involves the use of alkaline 

 solutions in contact with glass vessels. The method was 

 originally proposed by Dalton* in a paper read before this 

 Society in 1802, and has since been modified and improved. 

 Dalton used a bottle of about seven litres capacity, filled 

 it with rain water, and, by emptying this out, obtained a 

 specimen of the air he wished to examine. In this bottle 

 he then placed some lime water of known strength, and, 

 after a certain lapse of time, estimated the diminution of 

 alkalinity by means of dilute sulphuric acid, also of known 

 strength. From this he calculated the amount of carbon 

 dioxide which had been removed from the air. Hadfield,f 

 a pupil of Dalton's, improved the process (1828-30) by 

 filling the bottle with air by means of a bellows pipe and 

 another pupil, H. H. Watson,^ also improved the process 

 in 1834. 



* Manchester Memoirs, Ser. 2, Vol. I. (1805), p. 244. 

 ^ Ibid, 1842, p. 10. 

 XBrit, Assoc. Reports, 3 (1834), p. 583. 



December i^ih, igo2. 



