6 JOSEPH PKIESTLEY I 



and, here, happening to live next door to a public 

 brewery, as he says, 



"I, at first, amused myself with making experiments on the 

 fixed air which I found ready-made in the process of fermenta- 

 tion. "When I removed from that house I was under the 

 necessity of making fixed air for myself ; and one experiment 

 leading to another, as I have distinctly and faithfully noted in 

 my various publications on the subject, I by degrees contrived 

 a convenient apparatus for the purpose, but of the cheapest 

 kind. 



"When I began these experiments I knew very little of 

 chemistry, and had, in a manner, no idea on the subject before 

 I attended a course of chemical lectures, delivered in the 

 Academy at Warrington, by Dr. Turner of Liverpool. But I 

 have often thought that, upon the whole, this circumstance 

 was no disadvantage to me ; as, in this situation, I was led 

 to devise an apparatus and processes of my own, adapted 

 to my peculiar views ; whereas, if I had been previously 

 accustomed to the usual chemical processes, I should not 

 have so easily thought of any other, and without new modes of 

 operation, I should hardly have discovered anything materially 

 new." 1 



The first outcome of Priestley's chemical work, 

 published in 1772, was of a very practical charac- 

 ter. He discovered the way of impregnating 

 water with an excess of "fixed air," or carbonic 

 acid, and thereby producing what we now know 

 as "soda water" a service to naturally, and 

 still more to artificially, thirsty souls, which those 

 whose parched throats and hot heads are cooled 

 by morning draughts of that beverage, cannot 

 too gratefully acknowledge. In the same year, 

 Priestley communicated the extensive series of 

 1 Autobiography, 100, 101. 



