76 OXYGEN AND HYDROGEN GASES. 



weights of azote, carbon, phosphorus, and sul- 

 phur respectively, on the supposition that an 

 atom of oxygen weighs unity. It is obvious 

 from the table, that 0*125 hydrogen is the 

 smallest quantity of hydrogen that unites with 

 an atom of aeote, carbon, phosphorus, or sul- 

 phur. Now, if 0*0625 were the atomic weight 

 of hydrogen, how comes it that it never unites 

 to any of these bodies in so small a quantity ? 



But if 0*125 be the atomic weight of hydro- 

 gen and 1 of oxygen, since water is a compound 

 of 1 oxygen and 0*125 hydrogen, and is at the 

 same time a compound of 1 volume oxygen and 

 2 volumes hydrogen gases, it follows as a con- 

 sequence, that a volume of oxygen contains 

 twice as many atoms as a volume of hydrogen. 

 So that if we represent an atom of hydrogen by 

 a volume, we must represent an atom of oxygen 

 by half a volume. 



It is obvious that the weight of an integrant 

 particle of water is 1125; nor is this weight 

 altered, whether we consider it as a compound 

 of 1 atom oxygen and 1 atom hydrogen, or of 

 1 atom oxygen and 2 atoms hydrogen. For on 

 either supposition the atomic quantity of hydro- 

 gen must be represented by 0*125. 



