Vug""  8?5""  }    development  of  the  Chemical  Arts.  3  6 1 
discoveries  chemical  industry  owes  its  rational  foundation  and  the  pos- 
sibiUty  of  its  advancement,  and  thus  both  the  existence  and  the  pro- 
gress of  technology  are  linked  to  the  same  element.  What,  in  com- 
parison u^ith  these  incalculable  benefits,  are  the  advantages  which  pure 
oxygen  gas  has  conferred  upon  industry  by  its  direct  application  ?  To 
give  a  reply  to  this  question  is  the  object  of  the  following  lines,  and  as 
no  reports  or  text-books  have  hitherto  treated  this  subject  in  a  connected 
manner,  we  may  venture  to  exceed  in  point  of  time  the  boundaries  of 
this  report. 
Lavoisier,  who  first  recognized  in  its  full  extent  the  importance  of 
oxygen,  took  the  first  successful  step  in  its  technical  application.  "  It 
is  evident,"  he  writes,*  "  that  atmospheric  air  is  not  the  most  suitable 
to  increase  the  action  of  fire,  and  that,  if  we  drive  a  current  of  air 
upon  ignited  fuel  by  means  of  bellows,  three  parts  of  injurious,  or  at 
least  useless,  gas  are  driven  in  for  one  part  of  the  serviceable  kind  of 
air,  and  that,  therefore,  if  the  latter  could  be  used  for  combustion  in  a 
pure  state,  the  action  of  the  fire  would  be  much  enhanced.  This  idea 
has  doubtless  occurred  to  many  persons  prior  to  myself,  and  I  hear  that 
Archard,  the  celebrated  chemist  of  Berlin,  has  carried  it  into  applica- 
tion ;f  but  it  is  still  needful  to  devise  a  cheap  and  convenient  apparatus."" 
For  this  purpose,  Lavoisier  used  at  first  bladders  fitted  with  tubes 
and  taps.  "  I  made,"  he  continues,  "  with  a  knife,  a  hole  three  to 
four  lines  deep  in  a  large  piece  of  charcoal,  and  laid  in  it  6  grs. 
of  platinum,  set  fire  to  the  charcoal  at  an  enameller's  lamp  by 
means  of  a  blowpipe,  opened  the  jet  of  my  apparatus,  and  blew  pure 
oxygen  into  the  hollow.  The  charcoal  burnt  very  rapidly,  with  deto- 
nation as  it  produces  with  melted  saltpetre,  and  w^ith  a  dazzling  bril- 
liance ;  and  in  a  few  moments  the  platinum  melted  into  granules,  which 
then  united  into  a  ball.  The  fusion  was  equally  successful,  whether 
the  ordinary  platinum  of  commerce  was  taken  or  such  as  had  been 
previously  freed  from  magnetic  particles  by  means  of  a  magnet.  Hith- 
erto, platinum  has  not  been  melted." 
Lavoisier  improved  his  apparatus  in  the  same  year,J  in  conjunction 
with  Meusnier,  and  produced  a  gasometer  consisting  of  two  boxes,  and 
--k  «  Memoire  sur  iin  Moyen  d'Augmenter  Considerablement  TAction  du  Feu  et 
de  la  Chaleur  dans  les  Operations  Chimiques  " — "Oeuvres  dc  Lavoisier,"  ii,  425. 
t  Memoiren  der  Berliner  Academie,  i779-  "  Sur  un  Nouveau  Moyen  de  Produire 
avec  une  tres  Petite  Q^iantite  de  Charbons  une  Chaleur,"  &c. 
X  Lavoisier,  "  Oeuvres,"  ii,  432. 
