The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1873-02-13
Fire and Flame.

!
But what is combustion7 What is the fire
that warns us; what Is the fame that gives us
| light7 Fire, the ancients thought to be an ele-
ment, but they knew nothing of its real nature.
| Fire, chemists now tell us, has no material ex-
istence But the story is a long one. Let me
begin by telling you what did one day In my
laboratory.
put some pieces of zinc into bottle which
then closed with cork. Through this cork
there were two glass tubes, one of which would
let me pour any fluid pleased into the bottle,
and the other would let any air or other gas
out that wished to leave the bottle. When all
was ready, poured some water into the bottle
and then little "oil of vitrol." What foam
ingl One would have thought the fluid in the
bottle was being boiled by the strong heat OF a
blazing fire, so violent was the agitation. At
the same time something was rapidly leaving
the-bottle. knew it by the blowing sound il
made, as if stream of air were flowing from
the tube. What was it2 brought lighted
match over the tube from which the gas was
flowing its fame was quickly put out. but 10
the gas itself took fire and went on burning
much less brilliant light. Then knew that it
was the gas called hydrogen. What next7
took dry glass jar and held it, mouth
downward, over the fame. 1t did not remain
dry for a moment. Almost as quick as thought
its sides were dimmed as if cloud of steam
had settled upon them and covered them with
dew. Indeed it was dew that moistened them,
for it was not long before saw little drops OF
water trickling along down the sides of the jar.
Where did this water come from9 1t was not
on the jar before; il was not in the air within
it. and when took the greatest care to dry the
gas before it issued from the tube, the moisture
came all the same, so that it did not come out
of the bottle. Can you thipk of any other
source from which it could have come? Neither
I nor the young friends who were watching the
curious experiment could, and we had to be-
lieve that the water did not come from any
place, but that it was made just there in the
jar Indeed the fiery flame of the burning hy-
drogen was a mandatory of water.
But what besides hydrogen is needed to form
water2 I took little drop of water to pieces
one day, that my young friends might see what
the fluid is made of. / did it by using elec-
tricity in way which | will not stop to de-
scribe just now, but will tell you what they
saw. In one glass tube, where told them
had caught one of the parts of the water, they
saw nothing more than if the tube had been
full of air, but when touched lighted match
to its mouth they saw that it was not filled with
air, for sudden explosion was heard and a
dull fame was seen. The tube was filled with
hydrogen. In the other glass tube, where 1
told them / had caught the other part of the
water, they could see nothing, but when l
plunged o burning match into it the fame be-
came ten-fold brighter than before, and they
knew that the tube was not filled with air. In
fact, it was filled with o1ygen.
| BY taking drop Of water to pieces had OBJ
tanned hydrogen and oxygen. Water is made
up of these two gases. Now let us ask again,
what besides hydrogen is needed in the fame
to form the water which trickled along the
sides of my jar7 1t is oxygen-a curious gas,
colorless as mir itself and the vital part of the
air we breathe. The hydrogen from my bottle,
and the oxygen from the air, fell together and
formed the water in my jar. These were the
only substances used, yet fire was produced
The fame, what was it? Not hydrogen, not
oxygen, not water surely, nothing at all mate
rial. There is strong attraction between the
atoms of hydrogen and oxygen. by which they
are pulled together. The violence of the action
warns them; indeed, it heats them to an in
tense heat, and the glowing fame is the result
of it.
So fire and fame are not substance like stone
or wood or iron; they are really nothing but
the swift trembling motions of the atoms OF
substances while powerful attraction is draw
ing them into new relations.
Now let me tell you something to do for
yourself. Take candle, not too tall, set its
wick on fire, let few; drops of it's oil fall upon
the centre of a common plate and then press
the lower end of the candle upon it until it
hardens. Your lighted candle will now stand
alone upon the plate. Next take fruit can
and put it, mouth downward over the candle.
Your candle is now burning inside of the in
verted Jar. But see, the fame begins to lessen
in size and brightness. DINNER and more dim
it becomes, until, while you still look at it, it
expires altogether. There can be no fire with
ont air, and when the candle had burned up all
the air in the jar it could burn no longer. But
see, the sides of your jar are covered with
moisture! Water has been formed in this COM
bustion. What else?
Can YOU get a little lime7 If possible, put
little into bottle of water, and, after shaking
it vigorously, let it stand quietly until it be-
comes clear. Then pour this clear lime-water
into the lar in which the candle fame has died.
Shake it a little; it is no longer clear like wa
ter: it is now turbid, and its color is more like
that of milk What has happened? Another
thinp besides water has formed in the combus-
tion it is a substance commonly called car
6onic acid.
Now those two things, water and carbonlc
acid, are formed in every fire that burns. Fuel
of ola almost every kind, consists of hydrogen and
carbon chiefly, and the atmosphere contains an
abundance of oxygen. Hydrogen and oxygen
unite to form water carbon and oxygen unite
to form carbonic acid.
The violence, or rather the rapidity of these
combinations is a source of heat, sometimes the
heat of the glowing GOALS; sometimes that of
the restless fame.
Bro HAUL OF PoLEcATs.-During the late
rise in the Yuba River, J. w. Briggs, while
passing over low strip Of land on the Grass
Bros Tanche, met with what he called "drove
Of polecats." They had evidently been driven
from their burrows by water, and when ap-
preached by the discoverer they trotted along
before him like drove of pigs Finally they
all plunged into one hole. Mr.. Briggs being
aware that the animal is often hunted by Chi.