266 Dr. Schafhaeutl's^/rMer Remarks on some of the 



of the water showed the slightest traces of electricity. It ap- 

 pears, therefore, that steam, the caloric of which is derived 

 from the water from which it separates, developes no electricity. 



The temperature, for example, of the laboratory during one 

 experiment was 45'^ Fahr. The temperature of the issuing 

 wet steam at a distance of one-eighth of an inch from the mouth 

 of the jet was 150°; at thi-ee inches further the temperature 

 of the steam sunk to 120°; in the bell itself it was 110°; and 

 the collected and condensed water in the bell measured 100°, 

 the steam escaping from this water showing only between 

 60° and 70°. 



I'he temperature of the steam and the water in the boiler 

 was under a pressure of thirty-two inches, of course about 

 253°. After opening the stop-cock, the water released par- 

 tially from its pressure was converted, till the stop-cock was 

 shut again at a pressure of about twenty-three inches, 62"3 of 

 its bulk further into steam, converting the mass of water into 

 an agglomeration of air-bubbles*, which, mixed with the steam 

 of the upper part of the boiler, escaped through the metallic 

 tube. During its expansion in the air the free caloric of the 

 steam became latent, which was immediately replaced by the 

 free caloric of the minutely divided water, mixed with the steam, 

 so that the temperature of this jet of steam must be of course, 

 notwithstanding its expansion, far higher than that of pure 

 steam escaping under an equal pressure ; and this higher 

 degree of heat retained in wet steam, may be one cause of its 

 retaining the admixed water in a state in which it is easily and 

 at once separable by striking against a resisting or condensing 

 medium, as glass, water, or even air, at which moment electri- 

 city begins to become developed. 



The steam separating afterwards from the condensed water, 

 has at the same time its own quantity of caloric derived from 

 the heat of the boiler; and instead of having it absorbed from 

 the hot water, which must be the case when boiling water is 

 poured into the glass bell, it has rather a tendency to impart 

 some of its caloric to the water. 



The greatest difficulty is to explain in which state or form 

 the water exists mixed with the issuing steam ; whether it is 

 suspended in it as minute solid water globules, or as minute 

 hollo-iio ones, as Saussure considered them to exist in clouds, 

 perhaps similar to a soap bubble ? I am inclined to adopt 

 Saussure's opinion, particularly as all liquids when agitated 

 with gases assume finally a form resembling bubbles filled 

 with gas. When water-gas is viewed through a microscope 



* A similar effect may be witnessed daily when the cork of a soda-water 

 bottle is drawn. 



