262 



INFLAMMABLE GAS. 



Experiments 

 and observa- 

 tions on the in- 

 flammahlfi g^c _ ^ 





Oxygdn 

 consumed. 



Carbonic 



Acid 



formed. 



Diminu- 

 tion of 

 Bulk. 



Wpeau Carbonic Oxide 



65 



29.25 



58.5 



35.75 



- • Carbureted Hydrogen 



31.6 



63 00 



31.5 



63 



Hydrogen 



5.5 



1.75 



0. 



5.25 



Total . . . 



100 



94 1 90 



104 



if!- .}^'^^ "^^^^^ ^° examine all these mixtures in succession, we 

 should find that their properties deviate more and more from 

 those of the gas from peat, as the proportion of carbonic oxide 

 increases, and that the mixture nearest the gas from peat is 

 that in which there is a minimum of carbonic oxide, and of 

 course, in which the hydrogen disappears altogether; that is 

 to say, it is the mixture of carbonic oxide and carbureted hy- 

 drogen already examined. Thus, the presence of pure hydro- 

 gen gas, in the gas from peat, cannoi be admitted; indeed, the 

 evolution of it from a vegetable substance exposed to heal, is 

 contrary to all analogy. But I own I was very much inclined, 

 from the result of the preceding investigation, to consider the 

 gas from peat as a mixture of-carbonic oxide and carbureted 

 hydrogen, and to ascribe the differences between the gas which 

 I examined and such a mixture, (o errors into which I had fallen 

 in making the experiments. Accordingly, I repeated the ex- 

 periments day after day, on purpose, if possible, to make them 

 tally with the hypothesis. But as the result of all the trials 

 was constantly the same, I was obliged to renounce it. After- 

 wards, I satisfied myself by a set of experiments, to be de- 

 tailed immediately, that the hypothesis, independent of errors 

 of expeiiments, is inadmissible. , 



12. The gas f.om peat, then, not being a mixture of any 

 known gase., we must either admit it as a peculiar compound 

 gas, different from every other previously known, or at least as 

 containing a mixture of a peculiar and hitherto unknown gas. 

 The first of these opinions may be admitted at present provi- 

 sionally, till a more complete investigation of the inflammable 

 gases from vegetables enable us to decide whether the second 

 be possible. 



Let 



