

130 



VOLUMES OF ATOMS IN THE GASEOUS STATE. 



expresses the relation in weight of that gas also to air, and so 

 do the corresponding numbers for all the other gases. The 

 numbers on this scale, which express the relative densities of 

 a volume of each gas, and are inscribed in the squares of co- 

 lumn II, are indeed the common specific gravities of the 

 gases. 



i. ii. 



The double squares which represent the combining measures 

 of hydrogen and chlorine are divided into volumes by dotted 

 lines, to shew that the division is imaginary, the partition of a 

 combining measure, like that of an atom which it represents, 

 being impossible. The specific gravities of gases being merely 

 the relative weights of equal volumes, may be expressed by the 

 numbers in the squares of the first column ; and the specific 

 gravity of oxygen being accordingly made 100, the specific 

 gravity of any other gas will either be the same number as its 

 atomic weight or an aliquot part of it. Or if the specific gra- 



