Page:The Liquefaction of Gases.djvu/70

66 additional increase of expansive force for all gases or vapours in contact with their liquids, provided the observation began with the same pressure in all. Thus to obtain the difference between forty-four and fifty atmospheres of pressure, either with steam or nitrous oxide, nearly the same number of degrees of heat were required; to obtain the difference between twenty and twenty-five atmospheres, either with steam or muriatic acid, the same number were required. Such a law would of course make the rate of increasing expansive force the same for all bodies, and the curve laid down for steam would apply to every other vapour. This, however, does not appear to be the case. That the force of the vapour increases in a geometrical ratio for equal increments of heat is true for all bodies, but the ratio is not the same for all. As far as observations upon the following substances, namely, water, sulphurous acid, cyanogen, ammonia, arseniuretted hydrogen, sulphuretted hydrogen, muriatic acid, carbonic acid, defiant gas, &c., justify any conclusion respecting a general law, it would appear that the more volatile a body is, the more rapidly does the force of its vapour increase by further addition of heat, commencing at a given point of pressure for all; thus for an increase of pressure from two to six atmospheres, the following number of degrees require to be added for the different bodies named: water 69°, sulphurous acid 63°, cyanogen 64°.5, ammonia 60°, arseniuretted hydrogen 54°, sulphuretted hydrogen 56°.5, muriatic acid 43°, carbonic acid 32°.5, nitrous oxide 30°; and though some of these numbers are not in the exact order, and in other cases, as of olefiant gas and nitrous oxide, the curves sometimes even cross each other, these circumstances are easily accounted for by the facts already stated of irregular composition and the inevitable errors of first results. There seems every reason therefore to expect