392 HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION TO CHEMISTRY CHAP. 



hn -w ti 



no.s a 



applied to organic 

 bodies " (Ann. de 

 Chimie, 1815, 94, 

 1-28, 170-190, 296- 

 323, 95, 51-90). 



These analyses 

 were made by a 

 modified form of the 

 method of Gay- 

 Lussac and Thenard, 

 in which the carbon 

 and the hydrogen 

 were determined 

 directly, by weighing 

 the water and the 

 carbonic anhydride 

 produced by combus- 

 tion. The water was 

 caught in a small 

 glass bulb, followed 

 by a tube filled with 

 calcium chloride ; the 

 carbonic anhydride 

 was driven forward 

 into a bell-jar filled 

 with mercury, where 

 it was absorbed in a 

 small bulb containing 

 solid potash (Fig. 50). 

 The substance was 

 burnt by mixing it 

 with potassium chlor- 

 ate, copiously diluted 

 with common salt 

 to restrain the viol- 

 ence of the combus- 



