ATMOSPHERICAL AIR, 19 



kind of air that had been imbibed muft have united with 

 as much of the dephiogifticated air contained in the water 

 as it could laturate, and thus have formed nitrous acid, 

 which remained in the water, while the fuperfluous 

 dephiogifticated air had been expelled in the proceis. 



I then firfl iaturated the water with the dephiogifticated 

 air, and after that with the nitrous air, which it imbibed 

 very readily ; and expelling the air afterwards, found it 

 to be purely nitrous, there having been more nitrous air 

 employed at this time than was fufiicient to faturate the 

 dephiogifticated air. 



Having made the pi-eceding experiments with 'wate}\ 

 I wiflied to extend them to other liquid fubftances, 

 and began y^'vC^fpirit of whie^ which 1 had before found 

 to be convertible into inflammable air by a red heat, and 

 alfo by the eledtric fpark. I now find that fo great a 

 degree of heat is by no means neceffary for this 

 purpofe. 



If I fill one of the bulbs above mentioned with the 

 fpirit, and by means of a column of mercury take off the 

 prefllire of the atmofpherc, a very great quantity of in- 

 flammable air Is immediately difchargcd from it, and by 

 a repetition of the procefs a fmaller quantity never fails to 

 be produced, and as far as I fee without limits. 



If in this ftate I expofe the fpirit to a degree of heat 

 fufficient to convert it into vapour, a very great pro- 

 portion of it is prefently converted into air, and in a few 

 minutes the quantity produced will be ten or twenty 

 times the bulk of the liqyid. This is the cafe repeatedly 

 with the fame fpirit, fo that I have no doubt but that, in 

 time, the whole of it would be fo converted, juft as if i*; 

 had been expofed to a red heat in paffing in the form of 

 vapour though a red hot earthen tube. 



Having expelled a very great quantity of air from one 

 of the bulbs filled with fpirit of wine, of the fpecific 



gravity: 



