340 . Olservations on the Absorption of (Nov. 
its bulk, I proceeded, onthe contrary, in- the following manner. 
I placed them over mercury in a tube four centimetres (1°575 inch) 
of internal diameter, and let up a column of the absorbing liquid 
five or six centimetres (1°79 to 2°36 inches) in length. The ab- 
sorption was promoted by agitation, and its quantity was not deter- 
mined till the gas and the liquid had been in contact for several days, 
The following table exhibits the quantity of the different gases 
absorbed, according to these experiments, by water and alcohol. 
100 volumes of 
100 volumes of | a jcohol. 
Water.” _} 8p. Grin0'84: 
Volumes. Volumes. 
Sulphurous acid gas ......-eeeeerers A378 11577 
Sulphureted hydrogen*........-....- 253 606 
Carbonic acid .........20eeeeeeee ene 106 186 
Nitrous Oxide 2.2.2... 02+ ccccesseee 76 153 
Olefiant gas .... 20... ee este ce esse ree 15°3 127 
OXyZen Jas 22.20. eee cee secon eweee 6°5 16°25 
Carbonic Oxide "22. ois cee ns en et 6:2 14°5 
Oxy-carbureted hydrogen...........- 51 70 
Hydrogen ....... cece esses ceeeeeeee 4-6 5:1 
A BOLE A255. team cies biter l= =e 6's se miele Al 42 
A hundred volumes of water absorb about five volumes of atmo- 
spherical air, when the mass of air is very great, in comparison of 
that of the water. 
From these experiments it appears, contrary to Dalton’s assertion, 
that the absorption of gases by different, not glutinous liquids, , as 
water and alcohol, is very far from being similar. The alcohol, as 
we see, often absorbs twice as much of them as water does. In 
gases which are absorbed in small quantities, this difference is not 
so striking; because with respect to them the absorptions of the 
alcohol can be less accurately determined, on account of the air 
which still remains in it after being boiled. ‘Those gases which are 
absorbed in great quantity suffer but little opposition from this air. 
In the remaining gases, its influence becomes the more striking the 
more nearly the absorbability of the gas and the air approach to a 
state of equality. 
These experiments agree no better with the law, which Dalton 
thinks he has ascertained in the absorption of different gases by one 
and the same liquid; for I find too great a difference between the 
quantity of carbonic acid, sulphureted hydrogen, and nitrous oxide 
gases, absorbed by the same liquids (which Dalton considers as 
completely equal), to be able to ascribe it to errors in the experi- 
ments. 
* It was, according to the direction of Gay-Lussac and Thenard, prepared 
from sulphuret of antimony by means of muriatic acid, and in the absorption all 
mercury was kept out of play, 
