210 THE CHEMISTRY OF CREATION. 



considerable time on the high Alps, in analysing 

 the air of those altitudes ; but he found that 

 air taken from the summit of Faulhorn was of 

 the precise composition of air at Paris. The 

 air contained in particles of snow was also ex- 

 amined, being expected to furnish a fair sample 

 of the qualities of air in those lofty regions of 

 the atmosphere where snow is formed. In all 

 these cases the results were similar, and it ap- 

 pears therefore to be fairly established that the 

 composition of the atmosphere, so far as regards 

 elevation, is perfectly uniform. 



Chemistry perhaps surprises us in few things 

 so much as in revealing to us the fact that the 

 composition of the atmosphere, as regards these 

 ingredients, is also invariable as respects locality. 

 Experiments have been conducted upon the 

 chemical constitution of the air of Egypt, of 

 the deadly breezes on the coast of Africa, of 

 England, France, the lofty Alps, of Santa Fe 

 de Bogota, of North America, and a number 

 of other localities, and it has been hitherto im- 

 possible to detect the smallest difference in its 

 composition. What is even more remarkable, 

 the very air which was spreading the most .fatal 

 pestilence, the air of a great and crowded city, 

 and the air of a thronged hospital- ward, were 

 identical in their composition, so far as their 

 proportions of oxygen and nitrogen went. Che- 



