COMPOSITION OF WATEE. 



however, more easily intelligible to express them by their 

 weig: 



Let us then suppose, in the first instance, that 1 grain of 

 hydrogen and 12 grains of oxygen are contained inBC. "When 

 the electric discharge is transmitted, the hydrogen inflamed, and 

 the tube, B c, cooled, water and gas, as already stated, will be 

 found in it. If the water be exactly weighed, it will be found to 

 amount to 9 grains, and the gas will amount to 4 grains. If 

 these 4 grains of gas be examined they will be found to be pure 

 oxygen. Thus this residual gas will not be inflammably but if a 

 lighted taper be plunged in it, the flame will become larger and 

 brighter. In a word, it will have all the properties of pure 

 oxygen, explained in our Tract on Air. 



It appears, then, that of the mixture of 1 grain of hydrogen and 

 12 grains of oxygen, which were in B c before the explosion, the 

 entire grain of hydrogen has entered into combination with 8 of 

 the 12 grains of oxygen, and has produced 9 grains of water, the 

 other 4 grains of oxygen remaining unchanged in B c. 



It follows, therefore, that the gases hydrogen and oxygen, being 

 combined in the proportion of 1 grain of the former to 8 of the 

 latter, produce water. 



If 2 grains of hydrogen and 8 of oxygen had been introduced 

 into B c, the explosion would still produce 9 grains of water, but 

 in this case the residual gas would be 1 grain of hydrogen. Thus 

 1 of the two grains of hydrogen, combining with the 8 grains of 

 oxygen, would produce 9 grains of water, while the other grain 

 of hydrogen would remain in its pure and separate state. 



If 1 grain of hydrogen and 8 of oxygen had been introduced 

 into B c, the explosion would have converted the whole of the 

 gases into 9 grains of water, and no residual gas whatever would 

 be found in B c. 



From all this we must infer that water is a compound liquid, whose 

 constituents are the two gases, oxygen and hydrogen, combined in 

 the proportion of 8 parts by weight of the former to 1 of the latter. 



42. It follows, therefore, that one-ninth part of water, the natural 

 antagonist of fire, is the most inflammable of bodies, and the other 

 eight-ninths is a body without whose presence fire cannot exist. 



Having thus explained the manner in which water is produced 

 by the combination of its two constituents in due proportion, it 

 now remains to show how the liquid itself may be resolved into 

 its constituent gases. 



43. There are several methods of accomplishing this, but the 

 most direct and simple is by submitting water to the action of a 

 voltaic current of sufficient force. It has been proved that the 

 poles of a voltaic battery have specific attractions for different 



109 



