of Hydrogen and some other Gases. 327 



method always gives a correct value, it was used throughout 

 the following experiments. 



§ 8. Nitrogen. 



The literature regarding the magnetic susceptibility of 

 nitrogen is scarcely known. Faraday * first found that the 

 susceptibility of nitrogen is* paramagnetic. Becquerel f 

 examined the magnetism of the gas, but he could not detect 

 it. Quincke { found a minute paramagnetic effect for 

 gaseous nitrogen. Pascal § concluded from the study of the 

 susceptibility of some organic compounds containing nitrogen 

 that this element is diamagnetic in its gaseous state. Their 

 values are given in the following table : — 



Table VII. 



Date. Observer. k-.IO 6 . 



1853 Faraday +00021 



1855 Becquerel 



1888 Quincke +0-001 



1910 Pascal -00005 



Thus all the previous investigators except Pascal agree 

 in the view that the susceptibility of gaseous nitrogen is 

 paramagnetic. 



In the present experiment special attention was paid to 

 the preparation of nitrogen gas, so as to avoid contamination 

 with air and nitric oxide. Three different methods of 

 preparation were employed, and the susceptibilities of the 

 gases obtained by these methods w T ere compared with each 

 other. 



The first two methods consisted of the chemical preparation 

 of pure nitrogen gas, of which the second one was com- 

 paratively imperfect and served only as a check on the first, 

 and the last one the preparation of the so-called atmospheric 

 nitrogen, e. g. the nitrogen accompanying argon and other 

 inert gases in the atmosphere. 



The method of preparation and the experimental data 

 obtained in the magnetic measurement of nitrogen gas thus 

 produced are described below in order. 



The first method is the process first used by B~. Coren- 

 winder || in 1849. Though this is an old method, it seems 

 to be an excellent one for the preparation of nitrogen gas 

 of high purity. Lord RayleighH proved that the nitrogen 



* M. Faraday, he. cit. f E. Becquerel, loc. cit. 



\ G. Quincke, loc. cit. 



§ P. Pascal, Ann. de chim. et de phys. viii. p. 1 (1910). 



i| B. Corenwinder, Ami. de chim. et de phys. (8) xxvi. p. 296 (1849). 



*fi Lord Eayleigh, Travers, "Study of Gases," p. 48. 



