3 , 5 ° Dr. Henry on the aeriform compounds 
fold of bladder, it was found not to have acquired any admix- 
ture with atmospheric air. The results are contained in the 
following table, in which the expression entire gas is applied 
to the gas precisely as it came over, except that the carbonic 
acid had been removed by liquid potash, applied in the small- 
est quantity and with the least agitation that were adequate 
to the effect. 
Table I. Containing the results of experiments on the gas ob- 
tained from whale oil. 
Entire Gas. 
Residue left by chlorine. 
loo vols. 
loo vols. 
No. of 
Experiment. 
Sp. Gr. 
100 vols. lose 
by chlorine. 
r 
take 
oxyg. 
give 
carb. ac. 
Sp. Gr. 
1 r 
Take Give 
Oxyg. Carb. ac. 
1 
2 
3 
4(London) 
.464 
.590 
.758 
.906 
6 
1 9 
Z2.5 
38 
I 16 
178 
220 
260 
6l 
IOO 
13° 
158 
.4107 
.4400 
.6160 
.6060 
94 
108 
14s 
152 
46 
58 
85 
91 
From the foregoing table it appears, that the gas obtained 
at different times from oil of the same quality, is far from 
being of uniform composition, and that great differences, as 
to its specific gravity and chemical properties, are occasioned 
by the temperature at which it is produced. So far as my 
experience goes, no temperature short of ignition is sufficient 
for the decomposition of oil into permanent combustible gases ; 
but the lower the heat that is employed, provided it be ade- 
quate to the effect, the heavier and more combustible is the 
gas, and the better suited to artificial illumination. 
From the experiments which I published in 1805, and 
which were made on a single specimen of oil gas, I was led 
to consider it as constituted of one volume of olefiant gas 
