FARADAY 



quantity; so that these two areas represent water, and these 

 are always the proportions between the two gases. 



Hydrogen 



8 

 Oxygen 



Oxygen . 

 Hydrogen 



88.9 

 n.i 



Water 



But oxygen is sixteen times the weight of the other eight 

 times as heavy as the particles of hydrogen in the water ; and 

 you therefore know that water is composed of nine parts 

 by weight one of hydrogen and eight of oxygen ; thus : 



Hydrogen 46.2 cubic inches = i grain 



Oxygen 23.1 " " =8 grains 



Water (steam) 69.3 " 



= 9 grains 



Now Mr. Anderson has prepared some oxygen, and we 

 will proceed to examine what is the character of this gas. 

 First of all, you remember I told you that it does not burn, 

 but that it affects the burning of other bodies. I will just 

 set fire to the point of this little bit of wood, and then 

 plunge it into the jar of oxygen, and you will see what this 

 gas does in increasing the brilliancy of the combustion. It 

 does not burn, it does not take fire, as the hydrogen would; 

 but how vividly the combustion of the match goes on! 

 Again, if I were to take this wax taper and light it, and 

 turn it upside down in the air, it would in all probability 

 put itself out, owing to the wax running down into the 

 wick. [The lecturer here turned the lighted taper upside 

 down, when in a few seconds it went out.} Now that will 

 not happen in oxygen gas; you will see how differently it 

 acts (Fie. 26). [The taper was again lighted, turned up- 

 side down, and then introduced into a jar of oxygen.] Look 

 at that ! See how the very wax itself burns, and falls down 

 in a dazzling stream of fire, so powerfully does the oxygen 



