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109 
LIQUID AIR. 
(Wir Experiments anp Lantern Views.) 
By A. R. STEVENS, B.Sc. 17th March, 1903. 
*« The possibility of liquefying air is not an entirely modern 
idea, for Lucian, a celebrated Greek Poet, who died ap. 180, 
tells us in his ‘ Vera Historia ’ ‘ that the inhabitants of the moon 
drink air squeezed or compressed into goblets.’ Lucian’s 
speculation can hardly be regarded as a scientific forecast, but 
the possibility of liquefying air was clearly foreseen by the 
French physicist Amontons, in the early part of the Highteenth 
Century. He supposed that the air might be condensed, 
and even frozen into a solid matter, were it in our power to apply 
to it sufficient cold. The fulfilment of this prophecy is one of 
the scientific triumphs of the last twenty years. In 1883 two 
Russian chemists, Wroblewski and Olszewski, succeeded in lique- 
fying air, and shortly afterwards Professor Dewar, of the Royal 
Institution, independently succeeded in achieving the same end. 
How troublesome the task has been may, to some extent, be 
imagined, when it is stated that it is comparable to the produc- 
tion of ice when the steam from which it is to be formed, the 
atmosphere, and every surrounding object is at a temperature 
which is more than twice that of boiling water. 
I propose to give an account of the scientific researches which 
led to the production of liquid air, and then to exhibit some of its 
properties. In the first place I shall introduce you to a few 
scientific worthies who have, in some measure or other, aided in 
the solution of the problem.” 
‘‘The Hon. Robert Boyle (1626), may be regarded as the 
pioneer of modern experimental science. He wrote two books 
on the subject we are dealing with: ‘A General History of the 
Air’ and ‘ An Experimental History of Cold.’ ”’ 
“John Mayow (1645—1679), a medical practitioner, who 
published a treatise in which, for the first time, he demonstrated 
that the air consisted of two parts, one which supported com- 
bustion and life, and the other incapable of doing either,” 
