3-12 j^letkod of giving to Cotton and Linen Thread 



however, he came back to rest himself, and, by the grca^ 

 hght he perctived, was convinced of what I had foretold 

 would be the consequence of neglect. Findirxg thai the 

 cotton and rope w ere both burnt, he took the bucket of 

 water to extinguish the supporter?, which were already both 

 on fire. 



About fifteen years ago, with a view of preventing 

 similar dangers, I mane experiments at Colmar on spon- 

 taneous inflammations. I mentioned the probability of 

 fires l:>eiqg occasioned by warm bodies, or bodies tending to 

 be heated, Avhen deposited inconsiderately in places to which 

 fire mav be communicated. The bodies of this kind, which 

 I mentioned to those present, whoAvere not sufficiently ac- 

 quainted with the phenomena of spontaneous intianuna- 

 tions, are roasted cofiee, cacao, fermenting plants, oint-; 

 mcnts made with metallic oxides, inclosed quite hot in 

 wooden barrels, bales of raw cotton, as well as linen or flax 

 beaped on each other at a warm temperature, a,nd even linen 

 whiph has been ironed and put warm into drawers; m a 

 word, all bodies covered with oil, such as silk and skains 

 of cotton. I showed them besides, that in all cases where 

 the oxygen of the atmosphere is rapidly attracted and ab- 

 .sorbed by any cause whatever, the caloric, which served as 

 a base to the oxygen and gave it the qualities of gas, or 

 clastic properties, is disengaged in such abundance, that if 

 the absorbing bodies are susceptible of taking fire, or if 

 combustible bodies are in the neighbourhood, a spontaneous, 

 inflammation will take place. 



To prove to the persons present, to whom chemical ex- 

 periments were not familiar, the theory of these inflamma- 

 tions, [ made the following experiments: — 1st, The incan- 

 descence of a mixture of iron filings and sulphur kneaded 

 in water. — 5d, The inflammation of boiled hn?eed oil by 

 means tif highly-c(jncentrated nitvic acid. — 3d, The inflam- 

 mation of pho'^phorus in atmospheric air, as well as in pure 

 oxygen gas, placed for that purpose in a porcelain capsule 

 over boiling water, in order to separate the moleci'as by 

 fusion without having recourse to friction. — ith, The in- 

 flammation of phosphorated hydrogen gas by the contact of 

 the atmosphere— an imitation'of wall-v/ith-lhe^wisp. — 5lh, 

 Thccombusti(mof pyrophorus thrown into the atmosphere, 

 and in pure oxygen o-as. — Gth, The reduclion into a charrv 

 igneous mass, produced by the action of the atmospheric 

 an- of torrefied bran put quite hot into a bag, the texture of 

 which was not loo close. 



1 \y?s well aware, that essential or volatile oils become re-; 



sinouj. 



