ON THE 
RELATIVE ATTRACTIONS 
SULPHURIC ACID FOR WATER, 
Cinder particular civewmstances : 
WITH SUGGESTION OF MEANS OF IMPROVING THE 
ORDINARY PROCESS OF MANUFACTURING 
SULPHURIC ACID. 
BY HENRY HOUGH WATSON, 
CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE SOCIETY. 
(Read 16th of April, 1839.) 
Tuoven it has been long known that concen- 
trated sulphuric acid, in consequence of its great 
attraction for water, robs the ‘atmosphere of its 
vapour, and becomes thereby itself diluted; and 
though its drying agency is frequently adverted 
to in our laboratories in cases of research, where 
drying by the application of heat would be objec- 
tionable ; I do not know that any person has 
hitherto attempted to trace out by experiment 
the limits within which the acid in question is a 
drier of the atmosphere. Works on chemistry 
