Experiments on the Gas from Coal. 415 
Bas) ce hb: , Consumed oxygen. Gave carb. acid, | 
100 measures of the 
unwashed ZaS.....0+e0000 NEE So RMD Peg Boks PPE 108 
| Gas onee washed .......... Peel Tbeetpenegaho+queyes 100 — 
Twice washed......... Mvanad A Belass -akgebad poseons 100 
The frequent repetition of similar ex- 
periments fully satisfied me that the fresh 
prepared gas from coal does im fact sus- 
tain, by agitation with lime liquor, a loss of 
combustible matter, amounting to about 8 or 
10 per cent.; but that the second washing is 
not attended with any farther appreciable loss. 
I found, also, that the recent gas, by being 
kept a fortnight in bottles completely filled 
with it, and well stopped so as to exclude all 
agency of the water in which they were in- 
verted, was diminished in combustible mat- 
ter about half the foregoing amount. On the 
other hand, gas which had been washed with 
lime liquor, suffered no change when kept 
under like circumstances, for an equal time. 
It is probable, therefore, that what is sepa- 
rated from the unwashed gas, whether by 
keeping or by the action of lime liquor, is 
chiefly condensible matter, partly perhaps 
an etherial oil and partly a substance which 
it is desirable to remove, rather than to al- 
low it to be deposited in a solid form, in the 
small pipes, or in the burners. 
The little effect of the lime liquor on the 
