Page:On the various forces of nature and their relations to each other.djvu/105

Rh as it gives us certain gaseous particles. Here, then, is the hydrogen. I shewed you yesterday certain qualities of this gas; now let me exhibit you some other properties. Unlike oxygen, which is a supporter of combustion, and will not burn, hydrogen itself is combustible. There is a jar full of it; and if I carry it along in this manner, and put a light to it, I think you will see it take fire, not with a bright light—you will at all events hear it, if you do not see it. Now, that is a body entirely different from oxygen: it is extremely light; for although yesterday you saw twice as much of this hydrogen produced on the one side as on the other, by the voltaic battery, it was only one-eighth the weight of the oxygen. I carry this jar upside-down. Why? Because I know that it is a very light body, and that it will continue in this jar upside-down quite as effectually as the water will in that jar which is not upside-down; and just as I can pour water from one vessel into another in the right position to receive it, so can I pour this gas from one jar into another when they are upside-down. See what I am about to