LECTURE XXXIII. 



CHEMISTRY. 



WATER, AND MINERAL WATERS. 



SOME of the aiitieut philosophers supposed 

 that all things were originally derived from water. 

 To form this judgment they must have taken no 

 cursory view of the operations of nature. We 

 see how it produces dews, clouds, rain, snow, 

 and other meteors, and we cannot help ob- 

 serving how every vegetable, every animal, in 

 a manner, seems to rise out of it, and be nou- 

 rished by it. 



Modern philosophy, however, which has in- 

 troduced us to a new world of wonders, while 

 it lessens those of the antient world, has shown 

 that water itself, I mean the purest water, is 

 really a compound substance. If into a glass 

 receiver, br other close vessel, reversed in a 

 quantity of quicksilver, we put about three parts 

 of oxygen gas, and one part of hydrogen gas, 

 and cause an electric spark to pass through them 

 (for additional caloric is necessary to promote 

 their union), we shall see the two gasscs inflame, 

 the mercury will rise in the receiver, proving 

 that the gasses are condensed, and pure water 

 will be formed. This water may again be de- 



