on Wood and Charcoal. 367 



weighing 2.3 grammes. The first was placed in the 

 stove on a white china plate, supported by a tile, but 

 not covered. The second was put into it in a similar 

 manner, except that it was covered with a glass jar, 6 

 inches in diameter and 6 inches high. 



The third parcel was put into a glass vessel, 6 inches 

 high, but only an inch and a quarter in diameter. This 

 narrow vessel was put into a glass jar 3 inches in diameter 

 and 7 inches high, which, being slightly closed with its 

 glass cover, was also placed in the stove on a tile. 



As the door of the stove (which is double, the better 

 to confine the heat) does not shut so close as to prevent 

 the free passage of air, and as the china plates on 

 which two of the parcels were placed were flat, every 

 circumstance was favourable for the free transmission of 

 the carbonic acid gas arising from the decomposition of 

 these two parcels by slow combustion, and there was 

 nothing to prevent the progress of this operation. But 

 the third parcel being enclosed in a narrow vessel, as 

 this gas is much heavier than atmospheric air, the first 

 portion of this gas arising from a commencement of 

 combustion of the wood could not fail to descend in 

 the vessel toward its bottom, gradually expel the air, 

 and at length fill the vessel completely ; and as this sort 

 of inundation by carbonic acid gas could not fail to 

 stop the combustion, I expected to find that this parcel 

 of shavings would be preserved, at least in part, even 

 though both the others should be entirely consumed. 



The stove having been heated in the usual manner, I 

 found the next day that the results of the experiment 

 had been such as I anticipated. The two parcels of 

 shavings placed on the china plates had disappeared en- 

 tirely, nothing at all remaining except a very small 



