Page:The Liquefaction of Gases.djvu/63

Rh of gases have been made by, in which oxygen, olefiant, nitric oxide, carbonic oxide, fluosilicon, hydrogen, and nitrogen gases were submitted to pressures, rising up to 220 atmospheres in the case of the two last; but this was in the depths of the sea where the results under pressure could not be examined. Several of them were diminished in bulk in a ratio far greater than the pressure put upon them; but both and  have shown that this is often the case whilst the substance retains the gaseous form. It is possible that olefiant gas and fluosilicon may have liquefied down below, but they have not yet been seen in the liquid state except in my own experiments, and in them not at temperatures above 40°. The results with oxygen are so unsteady and contradictory as to cause doubt in regard to those obtained with the other gases by the same process.

Thus, though as yet I have not condensed oxygen, hydrogen, or nitrogen, the original objects of my pursuit, I have added six substances, usually gaseous, to the list of those that could previously be shown in the liquid state, and have reduced seven, including ammonia, nitrous oxide, and sulphuretted hydrogen, into the solid form. And though the numbers expressing tension of vapour cannot (because of the difficulties respecting the use of thermometers and the apparatus generally) be considered as exact, I am in hopes they will assist in developing some general law governing the vaporization of all bodies, and also in illustrating the physical state of gaseous bodies as they are presented to us under ordinary temperature and pressure.

Royal Institution, Nov. 15, 1844.