10 DR. DAUBENY ON THE QUANTITY AND QUALITY 



large a quantity of nitrogen^ and likewise that no such quantity of vegetable and 

 animal matter could there exist, as would be requisite in order to absorb a correspond- 

 ing proportion of oxygen. 



Neither in such a case could the nitrogen that escaped arrive at the surface, with- 

 out being contaminated with some of the inflammable products, that commonly arise 

 from the decomposition of organic matter. 



I look, therefore, to some process of combustion, during which the atmospheric 

 air that finds admittance is in great measure deprived of its oxygen, as a likelier mode 

 of accounting for the peculiar constitution of the gas emitted ; and conceiving that 

 the carbonic acid that accompanies it, is more probably derived from the calcination 

 of earthy carbonates, than from the combustion of beds of coal or bitumen, I am led 

 to conclude from the frequent absence of other gaseous products, that the oxygen 

 becomes united to some base, which forms with it a compound not easily volatilized 

 by heat. 



How far these conclusions, if considered to be substantiated, tend to support that 

 theory of volcanos and the connected phenomena, which naturally emanated from 

 the discoveries of our former illustrious President, who also, at one period at least of 

 his life, himself advocated it, must be left for the Society to decide, as it would ill 

 become me to do more, than to lay before its members a statement of such facts, as 

 appear to bear upon a question, respecting which the highest authorities in science 

 have been divided. 



In conclusion, therefore, it only remains, that I should express my obligations to 

 the gentlemen who constitute the Committee of the Bath Waters, to whom I applied 

 for leave to institute the above observations, for their ready acquiescence in my wishes, 

 and for the facilities afforded me in the prosecution of these researches. 



I must, likewise, acknowledge the kind assistance I received from several of the 

 residents of Bath, particularly from Mr. G. Spry, who has long taken an active con- 

 cern in the conduct and management of these springs ; and from Mr. Thomas Stephens 

 Davies, Fellow of the Royal and the Astronomical Societies, a gentleman well known 

 for several valuable mathematical papers, to whom I am indebted, not only for much 

 occasional information relative to the springs, but also for having, at a considerable 

 sacrifice of time and convenience, attended at the bath whenever the observations 

 were made, and taken upon himself the task of minuting their duration, and of noting 

 down with the utmost regularity the quantities of gas each time obtained. 



