1836.] On the Condensation of the Gases, 8fc. 137 



February or the beginning of March, he inquired what I had 

 been doing, and I communicated the results to him as far as 

 I had proceeded, and said I intended to publish them in the 

 ' Quarterly Journal of Science/ It was then that he suggested 

 to me the heating of the crystals in a closed tube, and I pro- 

 ceeded to make the experiment which Dr. Paris witnessed, 

 and has from his own knowledge described *. I did not at 

 that time know what to anticipate, for Sir Humphry Davy had 

 not told me his expectations, and I had not reasoned so deeply 

 as he appears to have done. Perhaps he left me unacquainted 

 with them to try my ability. How I should have proceeded 

 with the chlorine crystals without the suggestion I cannot now 

 say, but with the hint of heating the crystals in a close tube 

 ended for the time Sir Humphry Davy's instructions to me, and 

 I puzzled out for myself in the manner Dr. Paris describes, 

 that the oil I had obtained was condensed chlorine. This is 

 all very evident from the paper read to the Royal Society, 

 though it may seem at first to stand opposed to the notes and 

 papers that Sir Humphry Davy communicated in conjunction 

 with and after mine. When my paper was written, it was, ac- 

 cording to a custom consequent upon our relative positions, 

 submitted to Sir Humphry Davy (as were all my papers for 

 the * Philosophical Transactions ' up to a much later period), 

 and he altered it as he thought fit. This practice was one of 

 great kindness to me, for various grammatical mistakes and 

 awkward expressions were from time to time thus removed 

 which might else have remained. 



The passage at the commencement of the paper which I 

 shall now quote was of Sir Humphry Davy's writing, and in 

 fact contains everything that, and perhaps rather more than, he 

 had said to me : " The President of the Royal Society having 

 honoured me by looking at these conclusions, and suggested 

 that an exposure of the substance to heat under pressure would 

 probably lead to interesting results, the following experiments 

 were commenced at his request f." I say "rather more,' 

 because I believe pressure was not referred to in our previous 

 verbal communication. However, I proceeded to make the 



* Paris's Life, p. 391. 



t Phil. Trans. 1823, p. 160, or Phil. Mag., First Series, vol. Ixii.p. 413 or 

 page 85. 



