Diribur Castle, its Gardens and Gardeners. 607 



black stuff into the barrel, then thrust the end of it into the 

 fire, and put a cork with a hole in it into the mouth of the 

 barrel, and into the hole in the cork a tin pipe, the other end of 

 the pipe being placed under water in the box. During these 

 operations he was forced to rise and draw nearer the fire, and 

 watched, with intense interest, the whole of the proceedings. 



When the barrel began to get heated, a bubbling commenced 

 in the water. When Bauldy saw it he exclaimed, " Fair fa' ye, 

 Sandy lad, ye are making cauld water boil !" " Have patience 

 a little," replied Sandy, "and you will see something more to 

 wonder at." 



When he thought that the common air was expelled from the 

 tubes, he filled one of the glasses with water, and placed it 

 upon a small shelf which he had fixed in the box under water. 

 There was a hole in the shelf, and in this hole he put the end of 

 the tin tube, and the gas rose through it. He placed the glass 

 full of water over it, and the gas ascended rapidly into the 

 receiver, and soon displaced the water; as soon as it was filled 

 he removed it, and, turning it upside down, put a piece of 

 window-glass over the mouth of it. In this manner he filled all 

 his glasses. Some may be wondering how he managed to get 

 the bell-glasses to remain steady after they were filled with gas, 

 with their mouths upwards, but it was very simply done ; he 

 filled a number of flower-pots with sand, and inserted the 

 handle of the glass into the sand, with the shoulder resting 

 upon the rim of the flower-pot. 



When Sandy had got all his glasses filled, he told the other 

 lads that he would now begin and make an explanation of what 

 he had been doing, and also that he had still some very interest- 

 ing experiments to make, and hoped that Bauldy would give 

 up all thoughts of going to the dancing for one night, for he 

 thought that he would receive more profitable instruction by 

 remaining where he was. " They may wallop laverock height 

 for me," replied Bauldy; " I am determined to see the end o' 

 this wark ; for I hae paid gude siller for sights and seen less." 

 The men were glad they had succeeded in turning his attention 

 to the object they had in view. 



Sandy then commenced his discourse, by telling them that he 

 intended only to state a few things about a substance of which it 

 was of great importance to know something, namely, oxygen. 

 He told them how this simple substance was discovered by 

 Dr. Priestley in 1774; that it had received several names since 

 it was found out, such as vital air, empyreal air, &c, and that 

 the French school had given it its present name. He told them 

 that it was one of the most important agents in nature, and that 

 few operations occurred in which it had not a place. The air of the 

 atmosphere contains one fifth of its bulk of it, and water 75 parts 



