21 
and a quarter inches, and, after the junctures were 
secured by luring, a small jar, of the capacity of 18.5 
cubic inches, filled with atmospheric air, was in- 
verted over it, and the communication with the ex- 
ternal atmosphere was cut off by water poured into 
the dish. In this situation, the plant grew in a room, 
in full day light, from the 10th to the 14th of Au- 
gust, in a temperature varying from 6O to 65 or 68. 
It increased about two inches in height during this 
period, and at length pressed against the upper part 
of the jar. The air of the jar was now examined. 
It did not contain any sensible portion of carbonic 
acid, which had, probably, been attracted by the wa- 
ter that had entered the jar ; but 100 parts of the 
residue lost only 16 by slow combustion with phos- 
phorus, so that the atmosphere had lost -r^ of its 
oxygen gas. 
228. Another young and vigorous bean plant, 
growing in a pot to the height of seven inches, was 
confined, in a similar manner, in about 96 cubic 
inches of atmospheric air, a little more than half a 
cubic inch of the water of potassa being previously 
placed in an egg-cup underneath the jar. From the 
1 1th to the 15th of August, the plant grew at the rate 
nearly of three quarters of an inch a-day, and the 
water, at the same time, rose gradually into the jar. 
On the 16th and j?th its growth was much less, and 
at last it was not perceptible. Some of the lower 
leaves of the plant now began to look dry and black. 
In the whole, it had grown in height more than two 
and a half inches, and the water, when the experi- 
ment was terminated, had risen one and a half inch 
into the jar. 
