74 MATTER OF THE SIMPLE GASES ALWAYS COMBINED. 



diamond, and from charcoal, and precisely the same results. 

 It is certain that the quantum of matter actually converted 

 into the radiant state, in anyone of such, experiments is so 

 minute, as to be in many instances beyond the reach of calcu- 

 lation, and that it is only by a repetition of experiments on 

 the residual gases, that any idea can be formed of sufficient 

 precision to afford satisfaction ; this circumstance may have 

 caused, the fact of the transition of matter from a fixed to a 

 radiant state, to have hitherto escaped their notice. 



Whatever deficiency may have been perceptible to them, 

 they, have imputed in .preference to some accidental loss, as 

 an evident ponderable result was always the object of their 

 search. 



The experiments on gases are attended with some danger 

 from explosion, unless effected with the necessary precautions, 

 as to the quantity of. the gases submitted to operation, which 

 must, from a view to safety, be so small that the results relat- 

 ing to radiant matter can but with great difficulty, and the 

 utmost precision, be attained. 



It is not by the actual transition of matter from a fixed to 

 a radiant state, that explosion is occasioned, it is rather the 

 consequence of some residual gases unconverted, the poles of 

 whose atoms are thrown into such positions, at the instant the 

 transition ceases, that they repel each other with considerable 

 force, added to the usual expansion proportionate to the in- 

 creased temperature. 



Gases can scarcely be said to be obtained in a state of purity 

 unmingled with a portion of one or more of a different nature ; 

 and this circumstance occasions frequently the imputation of 

 an appearance of a property foreign from the gas when in its 

 homogeneous state. 



We never find the MATTER of the simple gases in an 

 uncombined state, we are therefore obliged to separate them 

 from other constituents with which they are associated, by the 



