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BENJ. PIKE'S, JR., DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE. 



To procure Hydrogen 

 from water. (Fig. 530.) 

 Pass an iron tube, or gun 

 barrel, open at both ends, 

 through a fire. Make it 

 red hot, and to one end 

 fasten a retort holding 

 water ; make this water 

 hot by a lighted lamp being placed under the retort, so 

 that the steam may pass through the red hot iron tube. In 

 this transit it will be decomposed, the oxygen being ab- 

 sorbed by the iron, rendering that an oxyde ; while the 

 hydrogen passes through, and may be collected at the 

 other end of the tube, which ought to dip under the surface 

 of the water, that the gas may be cooled and purified 



To procure Nitrous Oxide, 

 or Lauyhiny Gas. (Fig. 531.) 

 Place in a retort some 

 crystals of the nitrate of 

 ammonia ; distil these with 

 a gentle heat at first, after- 

 wards increasing it gradually 

 to about 400 degrees ; at a 

 greater heat than this the 

 retort would burst. A fume 

 or vapor will first appear to fill the retort ; when this is the 

 case, and the common air seems to be driven out, immerse 

 the beak of the retort under a receiver, or to the foot of a 

 gasometer, and the laughing gas will pass over. It should be 

 collected over warm water, and before it is inhaled it should 

 be suffered to remain in contact with water some hours, in 

 order that it may become purified from any taint of nitrous 

 gas that may be mixed with it. The annexed cut shows the 

 arrangement of the apparatus convenient for the purpose of 

 making it. This elastic fluid, usually called laughing gas, 

 from the singular effects it produces on the human frame, 

 when breathed for a short time, exciting pleasurable sensa- 

 tions, and frequently an uncontrollable disposition to laughter. 

 It seems to act like wine or spirits, causing some degree of 

 intoxication, but without the subsequent exhaustion and de- 

 bility occasioned by strong liquors taken to excess. The 



