76 CHEMICAL AFFINITY. 



there is no longer any gas remaining, if I place 

 it over the jar and open the stopcocks again, up 

 will go the gas, and we can have a second com- 

 bustion ; and so I might go on again and again, 

 and I should continue to accumulate more and 

 more of the water to which the gas has returned. 

 Now is not this curious? in this vessel (c) we 

 can go on making from water a large bulk of 

 permanent gas, as we call it, and then we can 

 reconvert it into water in this way. [Mr. An- 

 derson brought in another Leyden jar, which, 

 however, from some cause would not ignite the 

 gas. It was therefore recharged, when the ex- 

 plosion took place in the desired manner.] How 

 beautifully we get our results when we are 

 right in our proceedings! it is not that Nature 

 is wrong when we make a mistake. Now I will 

 lay this vessel (a) down by my right hand, and 

 you can examine it by and by: there is not 

 very much water flowing down, but there is 

 quite sufficient for you to see. 



Another wonderful thing about this mode of 

 changing the condition of the water is this 

 that we are able to get the separate parts of 

 which it is composed, at a distance the one from 

 the other, and to examine them, and see what 



