calcium chloride deliquesce, become damp, sulphuric acid changes from an oily thick liquid into a more mobile liquid, and ignited copper sulphate becomes blue; after which changes these substances partly lose their capacity of holding water, and can, if it be in excess, even give up their water to the atmosphere. We may remark that the order in which these substances are placed above corresponds with the order in which they stand in respect to their capacity for absorbing moisture. Air dried by calcium chloride still contains a certain amount of moisture, which it can give up to sulphuric acid. The most complete desiccation takes place with phosphoric anhydride. Water is also removed from many substances by placing them in a dish over a vessel containing a substance absorbing water under a glass bell jar.[14] The bell jar, like the receiver of an air pump, should be hermetically closed. In this case desiccation takes place; because sulphuric acid, for instance, first dries the air in the bell jar by absorbing its moisture, the substance to be dried then parts with its moisture to the dry air, from which it is again absorbed by the sulphuric acid, &c. Desiccation proceeds still better under the receiver of an air pump, for then the aqueous vapour is formed more quickly than in a bell jar full of air. [13] [Illustration: FIG. 13.--Drying oven, composed of brazed copper. It is heated by a lamp. The object to be dried is placed on the gauze inside the oven. The thermometer indicates the temperature.]