The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1877-05-25

small quantity Of matter will be left
In the form Of ash--this is the morgan
ic matter of the substance, & matter
that has been taken up from the earth
during the growth of the organism.
Organic substances, whether animal
or vegetable. are composed of but few
elements - four prominent elements
predominating in all cases. These
prominent four are known to chemists
as Oxygen, Hydrogen, Nitrogen, and
Carbon. Let rs take brief glance at
them separately.
Oxygen, in its natural condition, is
an invisible gas, (or air like substance
but il combines with most other sub
stances, to form solids or liquids. It
constitutes pounds of every 9 pounds
of water. 1t makes up2 pounds in
every 10 pounds of air; 4 pounds in
every IL pounds of pure dry clay; 8
pounds in every Is pounds of pure
white sand; pound in every3 pounds
of dry wood. 1t is the rapid uniting of
the oxygen in the air with the carbon
and hydrogen OF wood or coal that
gives out the heat in the fire. By a
slow process Of the same kind in the
body the oxygen of the air, drawn into
the blood through the lungs, unites
with the carbon and hydrogen absorb
ed into the blood from the food in the
stomach and intestines, and gives out
heat to the body.
Hydrogen, like oxygen, is ia its
natural state, a gas, and like the latter,
it also combines with other elements,
and forms solids aud liquids. Every
pounds of pure water contains just 8
pounds of oxygen and 1 pound of by
grogsn, and nothing else. Hydrogen
forms a part of the composition OF
many other substances. 1t is, when
alone, the lightest substance known.
A barrel full, or 50 gallons CT water,
weighs 256 1.2 pounds, or 4, 264 ounces.
If the barrel be filed with air, the air
weighs SIP ounces; il with oxygen
gas, the oxygen weighs ) 81 ounces,
while if the barrel were filled with by
drogen, the 80 gallons of hydrogen
would weigh only one-third Of an
ounce, or more than twelve thousand
times less than water.
Nitrogen, in its pure state, is anoth
er gas. One hundred pounds of pure
air contain a pounds of nitrogen,
mixed with So pounds of oxygen; 100
gallons of pure air consists OF 79 gal
Ions of nitrogen, and 21 gallons of oxy-
gen. If We unite the proportions and
unite II pounds OF nitrogen with 40 |
pounds af oxygen, and add 8 pounds
of water, we have the powerful SUBJ
stance called ''0qua foTtiS" (or nitric
acid.) Nitrogen is an important sub
stance in the animal and vegetable
economy, as it enters into and forms
and essential parts of nearly all animal
and vegetable substances Without
nitrogen we can have no muscle or
lean meat, no cheese, no vegetables. no
grasses, no cotton, indeed we could
have very few OF our common articles /,
Of food, and with no food containing
nitrogen, We should have very little
strength.
Carbon is not naturally gas, but a {
solid. Pure charcoal is nearly pure |
carbon, so is the stone coal we burn.
But carbon is not alwas black. The
is pure carbon in crystalline
orm. Heat the purest white sugar
lowly to drive off the other substances,
md you have a mass of black carbon
eft. Take the whitest of wood and l
burn or heat it away from the air, as
in a coal pit, for instance, and it leaves
us carbon IN the form of black char
coal. This black matter was in the
white wood at the commencement of
our operations, and it only took upon
Itself this blackened pecuIiarity when
We had driven off the other substances
its color. The so called
black lead of our pencils is graphite, a
form of carbon with a little iron in it,
No organic substance is without carbon
and, with few exceptions, all contain
hydrogen and oxygen.-J0uTnai Of
Progress.