Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1855-09-19

IL yurO8en When HlAeu WIN "OHlOcpH0Te,
air or with pure oxygen, will no longer
burn quietly, but with severe detonation
Mr.. Cayindish found the loudest report
was produced by one volume of hydrogen
and three of air; but if instead of using
air for this explosive mixture we use pure
oxygen in the proportion of 2 of hydro
gen to ! of oxygen, the explosion will be
violent. Amateur chemists ex-
perimenting with hydrogen, ought to be
very careful how they infame this gas, as
severe explosions take place frequently
even in the hands of the best operators.
| have already alluded to the high temper
ature of the fame Of hydrogen; it is oc-
casionally employed for exciting intense
heat; and when mixed with oxygen and
burned, as the mixture issues from small
jet it excites temperature nearly equal
to that Of the arc of fame in the voltaic
circuit the hottest fame that man has as
yet been able to produce. A blow pipe
on this construction was first made by
Newman, of London, and afterwards i'm
proved as to it's safety by Professor Gun
ming, Of Cambridge but perhaps the best
oxy-hydrogen blow pipe Gas these instru-
ments are. called) yet invented, is the one
devised by DR.. Hare, of this country; for
its safety and simplicity, it far excels all
others If a current of hydrogen be in
famed when issuing from small aperture
and tube of eighteen or twenty inches
in length be held over the flame so that
the flame shall pass up the tube, peculiar
musical tone is produced, varying in pitch
with the length and diameter of the tube
and the extent to which the fame, which
should bevery small, is introduced with it.
We now proceed to study the compounds
of hydrogen with oxygen, chlorine, iodine,
bromine and fourine With oxygen, hy-
drogen forms two compounds, one the
protoxide Of hydrogen or water, the other
the peroxide Of hydrogen.
Water, the protoxide of hydrogen, is
known by the different names of water,
steam, rain, hail and snow, according to the
condition in which it is. We will notice
the protoxide in it's solid, liquid and gas
eous forms. have already stated that
water is a compound of | atom of hydro
gen and 8 atoms of oxygen by weight, OF
] volume of oxygen united with l vol
ume of hydrogen by measure. The COM
position of water has been made known
to us both by analysis and synthesis. A
mong the most brilliant and trustworthy
experiments on this liquid, those of Ber-
zelius, are the most rigorous and exact and
from the mean of all of these we deduce
the following: that
100 parts of water contain 98.9 of oxygen,
" Ill ofhydrogen,
making In all 100 parts, and If
these results are carried out, it will be
found that they equal l of hydrogen and
8 of oxygen. The composition of water
was not known to the ancients, for up to
the year 1773, it was supposed to be an
element. There have been great discussions
as to whom the merit of having discovered
the compound nature of water is due; some
refer it to the illustrious "Watt," whilst
others give the merit of this great discov-
: cry to Sir Henry Cavendish. There is
not any doubt that they both discovered
it, but in different ways; that is to say,
the one by synthesis, and the other by
analysis; but they were working upon it
at the same time, although Cavendish was
the first to present his memoirs on the
subject to the Royal Society. He proved its
composition synthetically; that is to say
that by the union Of hydrogen with oxygen
he proved that water was the only product
and that the weight of the water produced
: was equal to. the weight of the mixec
gases; whereas, the manner of Watts ex
periments were completely different, his
being by analysis, or in other words by
decOmposing the water, he proved it t.
contain hydrogen and oxygen and fo
g these reasons, l think we may safely give
5 each the praise and honor of the discovery
for they proved it by different means
y The water found in nature is far from be
: ing pure it is not the protoxide of tn
Chemist, as it contains particles of matte
: diffused throughout it, Of which some ar
Il mechanically held in suspension, but other
/ in state of solution. The former ma
e be separated by filtration; the latter onl
e by distillation. When we wish to filter
} solution in which are particles of matte
e mechanically held in suspension, we do
IS on the small scale, through paper or calico
, but it is quite obvious that this metho
r would not do for the separation of sui
d stance soluble in water this must there
4 fore be removed by distillation. BY tn
l. first process, if water be filtered it will sti
!; contain its saline properties, but if it b
y distilled, the salts contained in it are a
e or nearly so taken away. Sir Humphre
S Davy has however shown that we can nc
a obtain pure water, unless the distillatio
e. be conducted in gold vessel, and the di.
e titled product received in gold condenser
t for if distilled ina glass vessel pure watt
N will act on the glass and dissolve a sma
N quantity of matters contained in that GLASS
n again, if distilled in lead or copper still
r pure water acts also upon these. Let I
* notice the properties of pure water Pul
OF water is colorless, inodorous and tasteless
: it is likewise very far from being palatablt
O. it is the salts of lime and the carbonic aci
IS contained in natural waters which gi7
as them their pleasant flavor Pure water
ds an elastic body-that is, it may be cor
a pressed. To the mechanical philosoph
1t this fact is of great Importance. By
nd pressure of 10000 lbs on the square inc
IN IA volumes of water are reduced to
We volumes. At temperature of 320 Of Z
'sj renheit's thermometer we find that wat
lg loses its liquid state and becomes a sol
ne body, called ice; and here / would remar