Classics of modern science : $b (Copernicus to Pasteur)
History
Classics of modern science : $b (Copernicus to Pasteur)
Science; Science -- History
10. Third Experiment.--I mixed two ounces of caustic ley, which
was prepared from alkali of tartar and unslaked lime and did not
precipitate lime-water, with half an ounce of the preceding solution of
sulphur, which likewise did not precipitate lime-water. This mixture
had a yellow colour. I poured it into the same bottle, and after this
had stood fourteen days, well closed, I found the mixture entirely
without colour and also without precipitate. I was enabled to conclude
that the air in this bottle had likewise diminished, from the fact that
air rushed into the bottle with a hissing sound after I had made a
small hole in the cork.
11. Fourth Experiment.--(a) I took four ounces of a solution of
sulphur in lime-water; I poured this solution into a bottle and closed
it tightly. After 14 days the yellow colour had disappeared, and of 20
parts of air 4 parts had been lost. The solution contained no sulphur,
but had allowed a precipitate to fall which was chiefly gypsum. (b.)
Volatile liver of sulphur likewise diminishes the bulk of air. (c.)
Sulphur, however, and volatile spirit of sulphur, undergo no alteration
in it.
12. Fifth Experiment.--I hung up over burning sulphur, linen rags which
were dipped in a solution of alkali of tartar. After the alkali was
saturated with the volatile acid, I placed the rags in a flask, and
closed the mouth most carefully with a wet bladder. After three weeks
had elapsed I found the bladder strongly pressed down; I inverted
the flask, held its mouth in water and made a hole in the bladder;
thereupon water rose with violence into the flask and filled the fourth
part.
13. Sixth Experiment.--I collected in the bladder the nitrous acid
which arises on the dissolution of the metals in nitrous acid, and
after I had tied the bladder tightly I laid it in a flask and secured
the mouth very carefully with a wet bladder. The nitrous air gradually
lost its elasticity, the bladder collapsed, and became yellow as if
corroded by _aqua fortis_. After 14 days I made a hole in the
bladder tied over the flask, having previously held it, inverted, under
water; the water rose rapidly into the flask, and it remained only
two-thirds empty.
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