140 CONSTITUTION OF LIQUIDS. 



hausted receiver, the elastic force of the caloric 

 which surrounds their particles, expands them 

 rapidly into vapour at 145 below their boiling 

 points under the pressure of the atmosphere. In 

 all such cases, liquids are expanded into the 

 gaseous state by the elastic force of their latent 

 constituent caloric, which is thus diffused and 

 carried off, by which intense cold is produced. 

 In vacuo, pure aether is rapidly expanded into 

 vapour at 46, alcohol at 28, and water at 67 

 from which it follows, that they are all elastic 

 fluids like gases, but in a less degree ; and that 

 if their elasticity were not restrained by the 

 pressure of the atmosphere, they would boil at 

 ordinary temperatures, until the process were 

 checked by the pressure of their own atmos- 

 pheres, 



By reference to a subsequent Table, it will 

 be seen that aether is composed of 5 atoms of 

 hydrogen, 4 of carbon, and 1 of oxygen ; or 2 

 atoms of olefiant gas to one of water ; and that 



London, why sether, alcohol, &c. were more volatile than water, 

 and the latter than sulphuric acid : after pausing a few moments, 

 he replied, that " he supposed it was owing to the smallness of 

 their cohesion" the reason of which remained in statu quo. 



I have thought proper to relate this circumstance, because the 

 present systems of chemistry and physics are full of such defini- 

 tions and explanations, the fundamental reason of things being 

 overlooked. When a teacher is asked by his pupil why men can 

 see through water, glass, and many other hard dense bodies, he 

 answers with the utmost self-complacency, because they are 

 transparent, and there is an end of the matter. 



