Page:On the various forces of nature and their relations to each other.djvu/101

Rh illustrate the force, if I may so call it, of oxygen. I have here a circular flame of spirit of wine, and with it I am about to shew you the way in which iron burns, because it will serve very well as a comparison between the effect produced by air and oxygen. If I take this ring flame, I can shake by means of a sieve the fine particles of iron filings through it, and you will see the way in which they burn. [The Lecturer here shook through the flame some iron filings, which took fire and fell through with beautiful scintillations.] But if I now hold the flame over a jar of oxygen [the experiment was repeated over a jar of oxygen, when the combustion of the filings, as they