gas 
creased, and hence the pressure or tension increases, and 
conversely (Boyle's law). The temperature, according to 
this theory, is the average kinetic energy of a molecule; 
hence, increased tempera turebrings increased momentum, 
and so increased pressure on the walls of the vessel. This 
theory also explains many of the phenomena of viscosity, 
(lilt usion, etc. By increased pressure and diminished tem- 
perature (at least below the critical point) any gas can be 
reduced to the liquid form, the amount of pressure and de- 
gree of cold required differing widely with different gases. 
The so-called fixtd or permanent gases, which were long 
supposed to be incoercible, as hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, 
etc., yield only to extreme conditions of cold and pressure. 
There is no essential difference between a gas and a vapor 
(see vapor), but for convenience the latter name is given 
to the gaseous form of substances which under the ordi- 
nary conditions of temperature and pressure are liquids or 
solids. Vapors and the gases most easily liquefied deviate 
most widely from Boyle's law, that the volume is inverse- 
ly proportional to the pressure, and also from the law of 
the constant increment of expansion with increase of tem- 
perature. Gases arc distinguished from liquids by the 
name of elastic fluids, because of their power of indefinite 
expansion. (See liquid.) The number of gaseous bodies 
is great, and they differ greatly in their chemical proper- 
ties. They are all, however, susceptible of combining 
chemically with fluid and solid substances. Some of them 
are of great importance in the arts and manufactures, as, 
for example, carbonic acid or carbon dioxid, sulphurous 
acid or sulphur dioxid, and coal-gas. Gases are ordina- 
rily invisible. 
That such subterraneal steams will easily mingle with 
liquors, and imbue them with their own qualities, may 
be inferred from the experiment of mixing the gas (as 
the Helmontians call it), or the scarce coagulable fumes 
of kindled and extinguished brimstone, with wine, which 
is thereby long preserved. 
Boyle, Origin and Virtues of Gems, ii. 
Oases are distinguished from other forms of matter, not 
only by their power of indefinite expansion so as to fill 
any vessel, however large, and by the great effect which 
heat has in dilating them, but by the uniformity and sim- 
plicity of the laws which regulate their changes. 
Clerk Maxwell, Heat, p. 31. 
Specifically 2. In coal-mining, any explosive 
mixture of fire-damp with common air. 3. In 
popular language, a compound of various gases, 
used for illuminating and heating purposes. 
It is some form of carbureted hydrogen artificially made 
and distributed by pipes to points of consumption. The 
common kind is coal-gas, obtained from bituminous coals 
by carbonization in retorts at a high temperature. A 
carbureted hydrogen gas, called water-gas, resulting from 
the passing of steam through a mass of incandescent car- 
bon and the subsequent admixture of hydrocarbons or 
other enriching substances, is also used. (Hl-gas is an illu- 
minating gas obtained by the distilling at high tempera- 
ture of petroleum or other liquid hydrocarbons. 
4. A gas-light : as, the gas is dim ; turn down 
the gas. [Colloq.] 5. Empty or idle talk; 
frothy speech ; rant. [Colloq.] 
'Tis odd that our people should have not water on the 
brain, but a little gas there. Emerson. 
Absorption of gases. See absorption. Diffusion of 
gases. Seed(/fiiio. Effusion of gases. See e/usion. 
Gas-liquor, liquor separated by condensers from crude 
coal-gas in the process of manufacture. It contains in so- 
lution a number of ammonium compounds which would 
diminish the illuminating power of the gas, and from 
which ammonium sulphate and chlorid are manufactured. 
Natural gas, combustible gas formed naturally in the 
earth. It is sometimes found issuing through crevices, but 
is generally obtained by boring. Natural gas has long 
been used in western China and elsewhere. It has been 
found in great abundance in western Pennsylvania and 
the adjoining region of New York, as also to a limited 
extent in Ohio, Indiana, and West Virginia. It was first 
utilized in New York in 1821, and began about 1874 to be 
of importance commercially, especially in the vicinity of 
Pittsburgh. The area over which natural gas and petro- 
leum are obtained in quantity, and the conditions of their 
occurrence, are in most respects essentially the same, but 
the principal source of the gas in Ohio and Indiana is a 
formation lower down in the geological series than that 
furnishing it in Pennsylvania, In the former States the 
gas comes from the Trenton limestone, a group belonging 
to the Lower Silurian ; in the latter, from the Devonian. 
The natural gas burned at Pittsburgh contains about 67 
per cent, of marsh-gas, 22 of hydrogen, 5 of an ethylene 
compound, 3 of nitrogen, together with a small percent- 
age of carbonic acid, carbonic oxid, olefiant gas, and oxy- 
gen. Rock-gas. Same as natural gas. 
gas (gas), v. ; pret. and pp. gassed, ppr. gassing. 
[< gas, .] I. trans. 1. To remove loose fila- 
ments from (net, lace, etc.) by passing the ma- 
terial between rollers and exposing it to the 
action of a large number of minute jets of gas. 
2. To talk nonsense or falsehood to; impose 
upon by wheedling, frothy, or empty speech. 
[Slang.] 
Found that Fairspeech only wanted to gas me, which he 
did pretty effectually. Sketches of Williams College, p. 72. 
But in all the rest, he's gassin' you. 
Scribner's Mag., IV. 219. 
II. intrans. To indulge in "gas" or empty 
talk ; talk nonsense. [Slang.] 
gasalier (gas-a-ler'), n. See gaselier. 
gas-analyzer (gas'an*a-ll-zer), . An instru- 
ment for indicating the presence and quantity 
of the gases resulting from the destructive dis- 
tillation of coal. 
gas-bag (gas'bag), n. 1. A bag for holding 
gas, as for the use of dentists or for a lime- 
Broadwell Ring. 
A, rear elevation of ring ; &, section of bore, ring, and bearing- 
plate ; a a, section and elevation of ring ; b, bore of gun ; c , section 
of bearing-plate ; dd, walls of gun. 
walls of the chamber, and this expansion prevents the 
escape of gas. The Krupp guns are furnished with this 
device. 
. 
Workihop Meceipts, 2d ser., p. 261. 
gas-bleaching (gas'ble'ching), n. The opera- 
2461 gas-engineer 
light. 2. A cylindrical bag of some gas-tight 
material fitted with a tube and valve so that 
it can be filled with air from an air-pump. 
used to close a gas-main during repairs, by inserting 
It is 
- ngit in 
the pipe when empty, and then blowing it up till it fills 
the pipe completely, and serves as a check or stop for the 
gas. 
3. A boastful, loquacious person ; a conceited 
gabbler. [Colloq. and vulgar.] 
gas-battery (gas'bat"er-i), . A form of vol- 
taic battery, invented by Grove, in which the 
cell consists of two glass tubes, in each of which 
is fused a platinum electrode covered with 
finely divided platinum and provided with bind- 
ing-screws above. One of the tubes is partially filled 
with hydrogen and the other with oxygen, and both are 
inverted over dilute sulphuric acid. The platinum elec- 
trodes occlude part of the gases, and then play the part of 
the zinc and copper plates in an ordinary voltaic cell. 
gas-black (gas'blak), n. A pigment obtained gas-coal (gas kol), n. Any coal suitable for 
from burning gas. See black, n. making illuminating gas. See coal. 
Give the wood a coat of size and lampblack, and then gas-COmpany (gas'kum'pa-ni), n. A company 
use gas-black in your polish-rubber. lormed to supply gas to a community for illu- 
minating or other purposes, generally at a cer- 
tain rate per 1,000 feet. 
tion of bleacEing by means of 'sulphur dioxid gas-compressor (gas'kom-pres'or), . A pump 
gas-boiler (gas'boiler), n. 1. A steam-boiler us ? d to compress coal-gas into portable reser- 
with which gas is used as fuel. 2. A small _ volrs > as for railroad-cars, 
boiler for household use heated by gas. (Jascon (gas kon), n. [< F. Gascon, < L. Fas- 
gas-bracket (gas'brak'et), n. A pipe, frequent- ?("-). usually in pi. Vascones, an inhabitant of 
ly curved or jointed, projecting from the wall rageonw. now Gascony. Cf. Basque.] 1. A 
of a room, the body of a gaselier, etc., for the natlve of Gascony, a former province of south- 
distribution of illuminating gas. The burner wfiHtem T".. " <virt 
is fitted upon it. 
gas-buoy (gas'boi), n. A buoy having a large 
chamber filled with compressed gas and carry- 
ing a lamp. By the action of suitable valves the gas 
can be made to burn in the lamp for many weeks, consti- 
tuting a floating beacon. 
gas-burner (gas'b6r"ner), n. The tip or arma- 
ture of a gas-burning lamp or bracket, through 
whichthegasiseausedto issue forconsumption. 
Gas-burners are made in 
many shapes and types, but 
in all the object is to insure 
the complete exposure of 
the burning gas to a fresh 
supply of oxygen, and thru 
to obtain the greatest 
amount of light with the 
least expenditure of gae. 
The resulting flames assume 
the fancied forms of beaks, 
bats' wings, fish-tails, cock- 
spurs, etc., whence the dif- 
ferent forms of burners have 
received distinctive names. 
. 
The material used to tip or 
form the tops of the burners 
has also given names to 
them, as the lava-tip burner. 
Gas-burners. 
a, cockspur burner ; /', bat's-wing 
burner; c, Argand burner. 
See burner. Argand gas- 
western France, now divided into several de- 
partments. 2. A boaster or braggart ; a vain- 
glorious person: from the reputation of the 
Gascons as a race for extreme boastfulness. 
See gasconade Gascon Wine, a name formerly given 
to wine brought into England from the south of France, 
especially red wine : nearly corresponding to the modem 
claret or Bordeaux. 
gasconade (gas-ko-nad'), . [< F. gasconade, < 
Gascon, an inhabitant of Gascony: see Gascon."] 
A boast or boasting ; vaunt ; bravado ; vaunt- 
ing or boastful talk. 
His great volubility and inimitable manner of speak- 
ing, as well as the great courage he showed on those oc- 
casions, did sometimes betray him into that figure of 
speech which is commonly distinguished by the name of 
gasconade. Tatler, No. 115. 
These brilliant expeditions too often evaporated in a 
mere border fray, or in an empty gasconade under the 
walls of Granada. Prescott, Ferd. and Isa., i. 3. 
gasconade (gas-ko-nad'), v. i. ; pret. and pp. 
gasconaded, ppr. gasconading. [< gasconade, n.] 
To boast ; brag ; vaunt ; bluster. 
Or let the reader represent to himself the miserable 
charlatanerie of a gasconading secretary affecting to place 
himself upon a level with Cresar, by dictating to three 
amanuenses at once. De Quincey, Plato. 
cularly about the supply-pipe. The flames meet and form 
a continuous sheet of flame. 
gas-carbon (gas'kar"bqn), n. Solid carbon 
formed in gas-retorts. See carbon. Also called 
in England gas-cinders and gas-coke. 
gas-check (gas'chek), n. A device for prevent- 
ing the escape of gas through the vent or around 
the breech-mechanism which closes the rear 
purposes is passed as it comes from the retorts, 
to free it from tar. The hot gas is made to traverse 
a series of convoluted pipes in a chamber filled with cold 
water, causing the precipitation of the tar, which can then 
be drawn off by suitable devices. The gas passes from 
the condenser to the washer. 
, n. pi. Same as galligaskins. Beau. 
[A bad spelling of 
erla " d ' can 
cromh > or wh 
----- , Caithness and Suth- 
work, and better, with their gas- 
ver >ey call it. Scott, Pirate, Ii. 
as an effective gas-check. (See obturation, obturator, fer- 
meture.) The Broadwell gas-check consists of a curved 
steel or copper ring and a circular bearing-plate slightly gas-drain (gas'dran), n. In coal-mining, a head- 
ing driven in a coal-mine for the special pur- 
pose of carrying off fire-damp from the goaf, or 
from any working. [Eng.] 
gaseity (ga-se 'i-ti), n. [< gase-ous + -ity. ] The 
state of being gaseous. 
gaselier (gas-e-ler'), n. [< gas + -elier, in bar- 
barous imitation of chandelier.] A chandelier 
adapted for burning gas instead of candles. 
See chandelier. Also written gasalier. 
As we both entered the drawing-room, we found Bell 
standing right under the central gaselier, which was pour- 
ing its rays down on her wealth of golden-brown hair 
W. Black, Phaeton, iii. 
gas-engine (gas'en'jin), n. An engine in which 
motion is communicated to the piston by the 
alternate admission and condensation of gas 
in a closed cylinder. With a mixture of hydrogen 
and oxygen, or of coal-gas and air, the condensation is 
effected by means of explosion with an electric spark or 
a gas-jet ; with ammonia the gas is alternately expanded 
by heat and condensed by cold water. Many forms of 
gas-engines have been invented. Also called gas-motor. 
gas-engineer (gas'en-ji-ner*), n. In a theater, 
etc., one who directs the application and use of 
gas and other media of artificial illumination. 
The gas-enirineer, a functionary who in a modern theat- 
rical establishment of the first rank must also be an elec- 
trician. Scribner's Mag., IV. Ma 
Freire Gas-check. 
A A, breech-block ; BB, expanding bolt and bolt-head ; CC, ex- 
panding steel ring or gas-check ; ^, spiral spring ; D. check-nut and 
set-screw. 
hollowed out. The curved ring is fitted into a counter- 
bore or recess In the rear end of the bore or chamber, 
and is held firmly in position by the breech-closing appa- 
ratus carrying the bearing-plate. The ring is self-adjust- 
ing in its seat, and the bearing-plate is easily adjusted. 
On firing, the gas expands the lip of the ring against the 
