The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1807-01-03


can people are incompara5.y the frrsit on
the globe, they ihouid be 70 completely G.
CLIPPED in the attainments of fcence by the
mott enilaved nations of Europe. When
lhall we sfcend to fuch fpirit of phiIoiophi.
cal difcovery, as is exhibited in the follow.
ing
Extrass from TIE la5our, off The Mathematical
and PtyGral eLagss Of the French Iy.jqitute d.
ring tile JyeAr 1905.
Almoa all the licences which engage tn. attention
81 the foeiety have this year made curious aud i'm
portant a,quiGons and, 10 ufual, chsnliilry has
obtained the ncl comfortable and mott nnme-
rous.
Count Rumford has examined heat under new
point of view. He has endeavored to determine the
force Of the folar rays produce it. The degree to
which it Is carried when its rays by
means Of burning glafsis well known: but is their
real power thereby augmented or does the effect
arde from their sctng in greater number u final
Ger fpaee! To afesrtain this, Rumford invent
ed refervor of hear, which is nothing elle than
metal vrfiel filed with water having thermometer
immerfed in IL il receives the folar rays on one Of
It's faces, which is baekened, and the water it con.
tains acquires certain degree OF heat Count Rum
ford futfers thefe rays To arrive fomsmes in para
lei direction and fometmss oneentratcd by a magni-
fJing1 glals; but bringing the latter max
. ing it recede in iuch manner that the rays f,a
veiiel, though their quantity continues always the
fame. The water in the reervoir always acquires the
fame degree OF heat nearly in the fame time. Hence
the power OF the rays produce heat is always pro-
portional to their quantity whether they eoncen-
frared or not or, what amounts to the fame thing
the heat produced is proportional to the light abforb
cd.
II has long been believed ths, the heat of the earth
does not all come from the fun, but that it j, imdebr-
ed for great part of it fome focus concealed in its
interior part this is the oil hypothesis of Defcartes
which Buffen afterwards made the BATS of other fyf-
TENS M. Peron fent by the Inltitute, as naturali6
with captain Baudin during his voyage of dleovery,
has made extenve ferries of reiearches to acertain
the truth Of this fact. He examined with an ingeni-
Gus apparatus the temperature Of the Tea different
Depths and he every where found that colder the
greater the depth This reiut, agreeable to that be-
fsre obtained by Engl navgators in other feas than
thoie traveried by M. Peron, feems deiiroy en-
sirely the idea of central fire. 1t is probable
that the deepea abyaes of the Tea always frozen
even under the equator, in the fame manner as the
fummits Of the higheR mountains.
M. Blot has made curious experiment in regard
to the heat forced from bodies by competition. Oxy-
gen and hydrogen gas, when merely mixed at the or
binary degree Of the preure of the atmosphere have
need, in order combine, Of the action of the cleo
trio iPark. When prt together in eoudenEng ma
shine they combined msrely by the heat which was
dilsngaged, and abandoned 70 comfortable at the
zine ofther combination that the machine BURT eve
~ tiine tie experiment was repeated.
Common air, the medium in which not only the
greater part ofthe phenomena of chsmtry but thole
aiio of organic life take place, be fudied too
carefully by philosophers. Its degree of purity, that
isso fay, the proportion of oxygen it contains one
otthe mott important points that can be examined.
Mehrs. Humboldt and GayLuGac have compared
khc different means hitherto invented for meafurng
this proportion and have flown that the bea of all
10 that OF Volta, which conits in burning hydrogen
gas a hundred parts in volume of oxygen are ne
esfary to faturate hundred of hydrogen, whate-
yer be the preilure and temperature. In this manner
che may dicover the hydrogen contained in any
air whatever, even is form only threetheufandth
part.
We mutt leave afo to time the confirmation of |
dhcovery iad, in letter frrni Florence, to have been
made by NJ Pacchiani, prOelIor Pfa, of the radi-
Gal OF the muriatic acid, of the moi important
qucaons, without doubt, that ill remain to be re-
flowed in chemiifry. M. Pacchiani a1erts, shat he
transformed water into oxygenated n,uriac acid by
taking from part OF its oxygen By means of ths
calsa:ie pile. The muriatic acid then will be hy-
drogsn :. It's minimum! Of oxidation The eXygenated
n,uriatic acid, hydrogen in the middle Fate and wa
ser, hydrogen at It's maximum of oxidation.
Indigo furniles fn,lar matter, and Gill more a.
bundantly than animal matters. MeGrs. Kaufman
and Walther had c5feryed it for fome TING. Meif...
FourcroY and Vauausln fnppofe it to be produced by
the difappearance of azote and by the combination Of
the hydrogen and carbon of the feh with fupera-
hundanee Of oxygen furniGhed by the acid. They
fnppofe that the yellow matter which tDges the bile
and that which colours the kin and the urine during
she jaundce, is produced alto by fome combination
of oxygen with the fbrine matter of the mufcles or
with thar of the blood.
NIeffrs Foureroy and Vsuquelin have employed
shen,felvas a!lo the analysts of milk and their
refsavehes have greatly fmplifed the theory of it,
They have dfsoyered that the acid which develop
ed in it, ard which colGdered to be of parti-
spar nature 'noth:ng but the acid Of vinegar modi-
ksd by fome animal iubancss and forne alt, which
j, holds in folutiou. Milk, according to them, mull
be confiiered mixed liquor, coufiGinz of great
deal Of water ard Of two kinds of matters fo,ne Of
them really dao.ysd, fugar, mucilage, muriate and
faphats pots ard aeetc acid; others merely fuf-
pended, As he matter Of cheefs, that Of butter, and
the phCfe!lstes Of irOn lime and magnolia.
Thee indefatiga5!s chemiasha carried their re-
fsarthes to phenomenon Of difeafe in vegetation,
jusereting b. its fpsulsry, and long known by the
damage At cceaiionS They have endeavoured, in
SonfeqasHce OF a memoir prefented the inltute by
M. Ciraa- Chsrtrans, determine the nature of the
Esn in wheat. They have found in it an oil of a
green colour and Of the confidence Of butter phof-
limo, and ammonia; charcoal, and vegeto- animal
fublanes perfectly 6miisr to thst produced by the
accommodation of the guteR Of wheat by putrefaeaon.
They tisnee conclude THAT the Gxm is relduum Of
farha deeompoied by putrid fermentation, aud fup-
p5fs Cat il afifet from fapershuajanee Of animal
p1spurs. and hot and ,nnil temperature at the