EE ee 
His difcovery of that peculiai 
quality which nitrous air poffeffes, of 
deftroying or being deftroyed by 
common ait im proportion to its pu- 
rity, is one of thofe inventions 
whofe utility will be more and more 
con{picuous, when it fhal] have un- 
dergone all the imptovements of — 
which it is fufceptible. Let it be 
mentioned to his honour, that his 
‘candour and modefty have made 
him wnder-rate the value of this 
-ufeful produétion of his inquiries, 
‘when he fays, in his laff woyk, in- 
titled, Experiments and Odfervations 
relating to various Branches of Na- 
tural Philofophy, with a Continuation 
: A the Obfervations of dir, p. 2695 
« When I firft difcovered the pro= 
“ perty of nitrous air as a teft of 
the wholefomenefS of common 
= air; I flattered myfelf that it might 
© 66 “ be 
