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XLV 1 I. Experiments and Observations on the Compref- 
JibiBty of Water and feme other Fluids , by John 
Canton, M. A. aiid F. R. S. 
Read Nov. 8, 
1764. 
’N a paper lately laid before the Roy- 
al Society *, I net only related the 
experiments by which I found water to be com- 
prefllble, but alfo thofe by which I difeovered how 
much a given weight would comprefs it when in 
a temperate degree of heat. By limilar experiments 
made fince, it appears that water has the remarkable 
property of being more compreflible in winter than 
in fummerj which is contrary to what I have 
obferved both in fpirit of wine and oil of olives : 
thefe fluids are (as one would expedt water to be) 
more comprefllble when expanded by heat, and lefs 
fo when contracted by cold. Water and fpirit of 
wine I have feveral times examined, both by the air- 
pump and condenfer, in oppofite feafons of the year: 
and, when Fahrenheit’s thermometer has been at ^4 
degrees, I have found the water to be com prefled 
by the mean weight of the atmofphere 49 parts in a 
million of its whole bulk, and the fpirit of wine 60 
parts ; but when the thermometer has been at 64 
degrees, the fame weight would comprefs the water 
no more than 44 parts in a million, and the fpirit of 
wine no lefs than 71 of the fame parts. In making 
thefe experiments, the glafs ball containing the fluid 
to be comprefled muft be kept under water, that the 
heat of it may not be altered during the operation. 
The compreflion by the weight of the atmofphere, 
and the fpecific gravity of each o! the following fluids, 
(which are all that I have yet tried,) were found when 
the barometer was at 294 inches, and the thermo- 
meter at 50 degrees. 
* See Philofophical Tranfa&ions, Vol. LII. p. 640. 
