The Finite Element Method for

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 Solution.— 9 + 8 + 7 + 6 + 5 + 4 + 3 + 2 + 1 = 45.
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 8 + 9 = 45.
8 + 6 + 4 + 1 + 9 + 7 + 5 + 3 + 2 = 45.

The Astonished Farmer.

A and B took each 30 pigs to market. A sold his at 3 for a dollar, B at
2 for a dollar, and together they received $25. A afterwards took 60
alone, which he sold as before, at 5 for $2, and received but $24:
what became of the other dollar?
This is rather a catch question, the insinuation that the first lot were
sold at the rate of 5 for $2, being only true in part. They commence
selling at that rate, but after making ten sales, A’s pigs are
exhausted, and they have received $20; B still has 10, which he sells
at “two for a dollar,” and of course receives $5; whereas had he sold
them at the rate of 5 for $2, he would have received but $4. Hence
the difficulty is easily settled.

The Expunged Figure.

In the first place we desire a person to write down secretly, in a line,
any number of figures he may choose, and add them together as
units; having done this, tell him to subtract that sum from the line of
figures originally set down; then desire him to strike out any figure he
pleases, and add the remaining figures in the line together as units
(as in the first instance), and inform you of the result, when you will
tell him the figure he has struck out.
76542 -24
24
76518
Suppose, for example, the figures put down are 76542; these added
together, as units, make a total of 24; deduct twenty-four from the
first line, and 76518 remain; if 5, the center figure, be struck out, the
total will be 22. If 8, the first figure, be struck out, 19 will be the total.
In order to ascertain which figure has been struck out, you make a
mental sum one multiple of 9 higher than the total given. If 22 be
given as the total, then 3 times 9 are 27, and 22 from 27 show that 5
was struck. If 19 be given, that sum deducted from 27 shows 8.
Should the total be equal multiples of 9, as 18, 27, 36, then 9 has
been expunged.
With very little practice, any person may perform this with rapidity: it
is therefore needless to give any further examples. The only way in
which a person can fail in solving this riddle is when either a number
9 or a 0 is struck out, as it then becomes impossible to tell which of
the two it is, the sum of the figures in the line being an even number
of nines in both cases.

Mysterious Addition.
It is required to name the quotient of five or three lines of figures—
each line consisting of five or more figures—only seeing the first line
before the other lines are even put down. Any person may write
down the first line of figures for you. How do you find the quotient?
86,214
42,680
57,319
62,854
37,145
286,212
When the first line of figures is set down, subtract 2 from the last
right-hand figure, and place it before the first figure of the line, and
that is the quotient for five lines. For example, suppose the figures
are 86,214, the quotient will be 286,212. You may allow any person
to put down the two first and the fourth lines, but you must always
set down the third and fifth lines, and in doing so always make up 9
with the line above.
Therefore in the annexed diagram you will see that you have made 9
in the third and fifth lines with the lines above them. If the person you
request to put down the figures should set down a 1 or 0 for the last
figure, you must say: “We will have another figure,” and another, and
so on until he sets down something above 1 or 2.
67,856
47,218
52,781
167,855
In solving the puzzle with 3 lines, you subtract 1 from the last figure,
and place it before the first figure, and make up the third line yourself
to 9. For example: 67,856 is given, and the quotient will be 167,855,
as shown in the above diagram.

The Remainder.
A very pleasing way to arrive at an arithmetical sum, without the use
of either slate or pencil, is to ask a person to think of a figure, then to
double it, then add a certain figure to it, now halve the whole sum,
and finally to abstract from that the figure first thought of. You are
then to tell the thinker what is the remainder.
The key to this lock of figures is, that half of whatever sum you
request to be added during the working of the sum is the remainder.
In the example given, 5 is the half of 10, the number requested to be
added. Any amount may be added, but the operation is simplified by
giving only even numbers, as they will divide without fractions.
Think of 7
Double it 14
Add 10 to it 10
Halve it 2 ) 24
Which will leave 12
Subtract the number thought of 7
The remainder will be 5

The Three Jealous Husbands.

Three jealous husbands, A, B and C, with their wives being ready to
pass by night over a river, find at the water-side a boat which can
carry but two at a time, and for want of a waterman they are
compelled to row themselves over the river at several times. The
question is, how those six persons shall pass, two at a time, so that
none of the three wives may be found in the company of one or two
men, unless her husband be present?
This may be effected in two or three ways; the following may be as
good as any: Let A and wife go over—let A return—let B’s and C’s
wives go over—A’s wife returns—B and C go over—B and wife
return, A and B go over—C’s wife returns, and A’s and B’s wives go
over—then C comes back for his wife. Simple as this question may
appear, it is found in the works of Alcuin, who flourished a thousand
years ago, hundreds of years before the art of printing was invented.

The Arithmetical Mouse-Trap.

One of the best and most simple mouse-traps in use may be
constructed as follows: Get a slip of smooth pine, about the eighth of
an inch thick, a quarter of an inch broad, and of sufficient length to
cut out the following parts of a trap: First, an upright piece, three or
four inches high, which must be square at the bottom, and a small
piece to be cut off at the top to fit a notch in No. 2.
The second piece must be of the same length as the first, with the
notch cut across nearly at the top of it, to fit the top of No. 1, and the
other end of it trimmed to catch the notch in No. 3. The third piece
should be twice as long as either of the others; a notch, similar to
that in No. 2, must be cut in one end of it to catch the lower end of
No. 2. Having proceeded thus far, you must put the pieces together,
in order to finish it, by adding another notch in No. 3, the exact
situation of which you will discover as follows: Place No. 1 upright,
then put the notch of No. 2 in the thinned top of No. 1; then get a flat
piece of wood, or a slate, one end of which must rest on the ground,
and the center of the edge of the other on the top of No. 2. You will
now find the thinned end of No. 2 elevated by the weight of the flat
piece of wood or slate; then put the thinned end of it in the notch of
No. 3, and draw No. 2 down by it, until the whole forms a
resemblance of a figure 4; at the exact place where No. 3 touches
the upright, cut a notch, which, by catching the end of No. 1, will
keep the trap together. You may now bait the end of No. 3 with
pieces of cheese; a mouse, by nibbling the bait, will pull down No. 3,
the other pieces immediately separate, and the slate or board falls
upon the mouse. We have seen numbers of mice, rats and birds
caught by this.
 HOW TO BECOME A CHEMIST.
In the eleventh century, and during the reign of King Henry the First,
surnamed Beauclerk, or the fine scholar, there appeared for the first
time in certain books, professing to teach the art of making gold, the
words chemistry, chemist, derived from the Greek. Seven hundred
years and more have passed away, and that which was only the
pursuit of a shadow called alchemy, has resulted in the acquisition of
a great and noble science, now and again called chemistry. So it is
with the great edifice Chemistry; we may, in these brief pages, peep
in at the open door, but should we desire to go beyond the threshold,
there are numerous guides, such as Roscoe, Wilson, and Fownes,
who will conduct us through the mazes of the interior, and explain in
elementary language the beautiful processes which have become so
useful to mankind.
Chemistry is one of the most comprehensive of all the sciences, and
at the same time one which comes home to us in the most ordinary
of our daily avocations. Most of the arts of life are indebted to it for
their very existence, and nearly all have been, from time to time,
improved by the application of its principles.
Chemistry is, in fact, the science which treats of the composition of
all material bodies, and of the means of forming them into new
combinations, and reducing them to their ultimate elements, as they
are termed; that is, bodies which we are unable to split up, as it
were, or separate into other bodies. To take a common substance as
an illustration; water, by a great number of processes, can be
separated into two other substances, called oxygen and hydrogen, in
the proportion by weight of 8 parts of the first to 1 of the second; but
no power that we at present possess can separate the oxygen and
hydrogen into any other bodies; they are therefore called ultimate
elements, or undecomposable bodies.
Again, sulphate of magnesia (common Epsom salts) can be very
easily separated into two other substances,—sulphuric acid and
magnesia; and in this instance, both these substances can again be
subdivided—the acid into sulphur and oxygen, and the magnesia
into a metallic body called magnesium and oxygen; but sulphur,
oxygen, and magnesium are incapable of further division, and are
therefore called ultimate elements.
These ultimate elements amount to 64 in number, according to the
present state of our knowledge, and may be arranged in various
ways; the simplest plan, perhaps, is dividing them into Non-metallic
and Metallic elements.
The Non-metallic elements are:—1. Oxygen. 2. Hydrogen. 3.
Nitrogen. 4. Chlorine. 5. Iodine. 6. Bromine. 7. Fluorine. 8. Carbon.
9. Sulphur. 10. Selenium. 11. Tellurium. 12. Silicon. 13. Boron. 14.
Phosphorus. The last-named element is the connecting link with the
metals through arsenic, which phosphorus closely resembles in its
chemical properties.
The Metallic elements may be sub-divided into the metals of the
alkalies, the metals of the alkaline earths, the metals of the earths,
and the other metals sometimes called metals proper.
1st. The metallic bases of the alkalies:—potassium, sodium, lithium,
ammonium, cæsium, rubidium.
2d. The metallic bases of the alkaline earths:—calcium, strontium,
barium.
3d. The metallic bases of the earths:—aluminum, glucinum,
zirconium, thorium, yttrium, erbium, cerium, lanthanum, didymium.
4th. The metals proper, the most important of which are:—platinum,
gold, silver, mercury, copper, iron, tin, lead, nickel, zinc, bismuth,
antimony, manganese, cobalt, arsenic.
Now, from these elementary bodies, united together in various
proportions, is formed the infinite variety of substances around us,
whether animal, vegetable, or mineral; in fact, a few only are
generally employed:—in the case of animals and vegetables,
oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, with occasionally some sulphur,
calcium, phosphorus, and silicon, suffice for building up the beautiful
forms of animated nature; while the fabric of our globe itself consists
for the most part of the earths; silex, i.e., flint or crystal; lime, in the
shape of chalk, marble, or limestone, such as our flagstones are
composed of; slate and granite, which are compounds of aluminium,
silica, and small quantities of oxide of iron, and sometimes a little
potash, etc.; and through their masses are projected irregular
streams—veins as they are termed—of the metals, either in a pure
state, as is the case sometimes with gold, silver, platinum, mercury,
and perhaps one or two others; or combined with one of the non-
metallic elements, or with one another.
Late calculations have determined the composition of the earth’s
solid crust in 100 parts by weight to be:
Oxygen 44.0 to 48.7.
Silicon 22.8 “ 36.2.
Aluminium 9.9 “ 6.1.
Iron 9.9 “ 2.4.
Calcium 6.6 “ 0.9.
Magnesium 2.7 “ 0.1.
Sodium 2.4 “ 2.5.
Potassium 1.7 “ 3.1.
100.0 100.0
All these combinations are effected by certain powers, termed
forces; those which cause the union of the elements are called the
forces of attraction; those causing their separation, the forces of
repulsion.
The force of attraction when exerted between masses of matter, is
termed gravitation; when it unites particles of matter of a similar kind
and produces masses, it is called the attraction of cohesion; when
the particles united are of a dissimilar character, it is then termed
chemical or elective affinity. For example, the crystals of Epsom salts
are formed from minute particles of the salt, united into a larger or
smaller mass by the attraction of cohesion, while the elements of
which each particle consists, namely, the sulphur, oxygen, and
magnesium, are united by the attraction of chemical affinity.
Cohesion thus unites particles of a similar kind; chemical affinity, of a
dissimilar nature. It is to cohesion that the existence of masses of
matter is owing, and its power increases as the squares of the
distances diminish, in an inverse ratio to the squares of the distances
of the particles on which it acts.
The power exerted by cohesion may be exhibited in various ways.
This is one: Procure two discs of glass about three inches in
diameter, their surfaces being ground extremely smooth; fix each
into a square piece of wood, taking care that they are placed
accurately in the center; then put them together by sliding their
edges very carefully over each other, so as to avoid any air getting
between them, and you will find a great force necessary to separate
them. A hook should be fixed into the center of each piece of wood,
so that they may be suspended, and a weight hung to the lower one.
It is almost impossible for any one to separate them by merely
pulling them with both hands; a weight of many pounds is required
for that purpose. In like manner two freshly-cut surfaces of
caoutchouc will, on being squeezed together, cohere so perfectly,
that it is difficult to tear them asunder, and it is in this way that tubes
of caoutchouc may be rapidly prepared for experiments, where little
or no pressure is exerted.
Chemical affinity is sometimes called elective, or the effect of choice,
as if one substance exerted a kind of preference for another, and
chose to be united to it rather than to that with which it was
previously combined; thus, if you pour some vinegar, which is a
weak acetic acid, upon some pearlash (a combination of potash and
carbonic acid), or some carbonate of soda (a combination of the
same acid with soda), a violent effervescence will take place,
occasioned by the escape of the carbonic acid, displaced in
consequence of the potash or soda preferring the acetic acid, and
forming a compound called an acetate. Then if some sulphuric acid
be poured on this new compound, the acetic acid will in its turn be
displaced by the greater attachment of either of the bases, as they
are termed, for the sulphuric acid. Again, if into a solution of blue
vitriol (a combination of sulphuric acid with oxide of copper) the
bright blade of a knife be introduced, the knife will speedily be
covered with a coat of copper, deposited in consequence of the acid
preferring the iron, of which the knife is made, a quantity of it being
dissolved in exact proportion to the quantity of copper deposited.
It is on the same principle that a very beautiful preparation called a
silver-tree, or a lead-tree, may be formed thus:—Fill a wide bottle,
capable of holding from half a pint to a pint, with a tolerably strong
solution of nitrate of silver (lunar caustic), or acetate of lead, in pure
distilled water; then attach a small piece of zinc by a string to the
cork or stopper of the bottle, so that the zinc shall hang about the
middle of the bottle, and set it by where it may be quite undisturbed;
in a short time, brilliant plates of silver or lead, as the case may be,
will be seen to collect around the piece of zinc, assuming more or
less of the crystalline form. This at first is a case of elective affinity;
the acid with which the silver or lead was united prefers the zinc to
either of those metals, and in consequence discards them in order to
attach the zinc to itself, subsequently a voltaic current is set up
between the two metals, and the process will continue until almost
the whole of the zinc is taken up, or nearly the whole of the silver or
lead deposited.
Again, many animal and vegetable substances consist for the most
part of carbon or charcoal, united with oxygen and hydrogen in the
proportion which forms water. Now oil of vitriol (strong sulphuric acid)
has so powerful an affinity, or so great a thirst for water, that it will
abstract it from almost any body in which it exists; if you then pour
some of this acid on a lump of sugar, or place a chip of wood in it,
the sugar or wood will speedily become quite black, or be charred,
as it is called, in consequence of the oxygen and hydrogen being
removed by the sulphuric acid, and only the carbon, or charcoal, left.
When Cleopatra dissolved pearls of wondrous value in vinegar, she
was exhibiting unwittingly an instance of chemical elective affinity;
the pearl being simply carbonate of lime, which was decomposed by
the greater affinity or fondness of lime for its new acquaintance (the
acetic acid of the vinegar) than for the carbonic acid, with which it
had been united all its life,—an example of inconstancy in strong
contrast with the conduct of its owner, who chose death rather than
become the mistress of her lover’s conqueror.
 Gases.
The three permanent gaseous elements are oxygen, hydrogen, and
nitrogen.
The compound gases are very numerous, some being combustible,
and others supporters of combustion.
Gases are for the most part transparent and colorless, with a few
exceptions, and of course, like the air of the atmosphere, invisible.
They are little affected by the attraction of cohesion, but rather, on
the contrary, the particles composing them have a constant tendency
to separate from each other, so that their force of expansion is only
limited by the pressure under which they may be kept, and the
temperature they may be exposed to. They have a tendency to
penetrate each other, as it were; for instance, if you take a jar of
heavy gas, such as carbonic gas, set it with its mouth upwards, then
invert over it another jar containing hydrogen, a gas nearly twenty-
two times lighter, in a very short time the two gases will have
become thoroughly mixed, the heavy carbonic acid having risen, and
the light hydrogen fallen, until the gases are thoroughly mixed, each
jar containing an equal quantity of each gas.

Oxygen Gas.
This gas, so named from two Greek words signifying the maker of
acid, was discovered by Dr. Priestly in 1774. He obtained it by
heating the red oxide of mercury in a glass retort, when the gas
escaped in considerable quantities. In the ensuing year Scheele
obtained it by a variety of methods, and a few years afterwards
Lavoisier discovered that it was contained in atmospheric air, where
it exists in the proportion of about one-fifth, the remaining four fifths
being almost entirely nitrogen.
Oxygen gas may be obtained for the purpose of experiment, by
heating to redness the black oxide of manganese in an iron bottle, to
the mouth of which a flexible tube is attached to convey away the
gas as fast as it is liberated from the manganese. The first portions
should be allowed to escape, being mixed with the air in the tubes
and bottle, and the remainder may be collected in a gasometer, or in
glass jars inverted over water.
Another method to obtain the gas, and one to be used only in the
absence of other ingredients, is to mix in a retort some of this same
oxide of manganese with about half its weight of strong sulphuric
acid, and apply heat to the retort, when the gas will come over in
considerable quantities; the first portions must be allowed to escape
as before.[1] If the gas is required very pure, a small quantity of the
salt called chlorate of potassa, may be heated in a retort, and
oxygen gas will be evolved, and may be collected as before. If you
have an iron bottle, the first mode is by far the cheapest, as the heat
of a bright fire is sufficient for the operation, and a large quantity of
gas is obtained in a short time from a very inexpensive material. The
most rapid and convenient process of all is to heat a mixture of two
parts chlorate of potash, and one of powdered black oxide of
manganese, in a common clean oil flask, to which a cork and bent
tube has been adapted. Care must be taken not to mistake sulphide
of antimony for black oxide of manganese, as very serious accidents
have arisen from this cause.
Oxygen is largely distributed over our globe, both in its uncombined
state, and in union with other substances. Besides forming one-fifth
of the atmosphere, it forms eight-ninths by weight of all the water in
the ocean, rivers, and springs on the face of the whole earth. It also,
in combination with various metals, forms the various earths and
minerals of which the crust of the earth consists, so that it is the most
abundant and widely distributed substance in nature, and in
combination with other elements, forms nearly half the weight of the
solid earth.
In its uncombined state it is a colorless gas, somewhat heavier than
atmospheric air, without taste or smell. It is a powerful supporter of
combustion, and is absolutely necessary for the support of animal
life, which cannot exist for any time without a free supply of this gas,
which is constantly consumed in the act of breathing and is replaced
by an equivalent portion of carbonic acid gas. The want of oxygen is
partly the cause of the oppression felt in crowded rooms, where the
air cannot be renewed so fast as is required for the number of
persons who are constantly consuming the oxygen; and if an animal
be confined under a glass jar inverted over water, it will presently die,
just for the same reason that burning tapers are extinguished under
similar circumstances.
If a jet of this gas be thrown upon a piece of charcoal, sulphur, or
almost any combustible body in a state of ignition, it will make it burn
with great vividness and rapidity.

FOOTNOTE:
[1] Some boiling water should be added to the mass left in the
retort directly the gas has ceased to come away, or it will adhere
to the glass so firmly, that the retort will certainly be spoilt.

Experiment.
But by far the most intense heat, and most brilliant light, may be
produced by introducing a piece of phosphorus into a jar of oxygen.
The phosphorus may be placed in a small copper cup, with a long
handle of thick wire passing through a hole in a cork that fits the jar.
The phosphorus must first be ignited; and, as soon as it is introduced
into the oxygen, it gives out a light so brilliant that no eye can bear it,
and the whole jar appears filled with an intensely luminous
atmosphere. It is well to dilute the oxygen with about one-fourth part
of common air to moderate the intense heat which is nearly certain
to break the jar if pure oxygen is used.

Experiment.
If a piece of charcoal, which is pure carbon or nearly so, be ignited,
and introduced into a jar containing oxygen or common atmospheric
air, the product will be carbonic gas only, of which we shall speak
presently. As most combustible bodies contain both carbon and
hydrogen, the result of their combination is carbonic acid and water.
This is the case with the gas used for illumination; and in order to
prevent the water so produced from spoiling goods in shops, various
plans have been devised for carrying off the water when in the state
of steam. This is generally accomplished by suspending over the
burners glass bells, communicating with tubes opening into the
chimney, or passing outside the house.
To show that oxygen, or some equivalent, is necessary for the
support of combustion, fix two or three pieces of wax-taper on flat
pieces of cork, and set them floating on water in a soup-plate, light
them, and invert over them a glass jar; as they burn, the heat
produced may perhaps at first expand the air so as to force a small
quantity out of the jar, but the water will soon rise in the jar, and
continue to do so until the tapers expire, when you will find that a
considerable portion of the air has disappeared, and what remains
will no longer support flame; that is, the oxygen has been converted
partly into water, and partly into carbonic acid gas, by uniting with the
carbon and hydrogen, of which the taper consists, and the remaining
air is principally nitrogen, with some carbonic acid; the presence of
the latter may be proved by decanting some of the remaining air into
a bottle, and then shaking some lime-water with it, which will absorb
the carbonic acid and form chalk, rendering the water quite turbid.

Nitrogen.
This gas is, as its name implies, the producer of niter, or at least
forms a portion of the nitric acid contained in niter. It is rather lighter
than atmospheric air, colorless, transparent, incapable of supporting
animal life, on which account it is sometimes called azote—an
objectionable name, as it is not a poison like many other gases, but
destroys life only in the absence of oxygen. This gas extinguishes all
burning bodies plunged into it, and does not itself burn. It exists
largely in nature, for four-fifths of the atmosphere consists of nitrogen
gas. It is also an important constituent of animal bodies, and is found
in the vegetable world.
Nitrogen may be most easily obtained for experiment by setting fire
to some phosphorus contained in a porcelain or metallic cup, placed
under a gas jar full of air, and resting on the shelf of the pneumatic
trough, or in a soup-plate filled with water.
Nitrogen combines in five different proportions with oxygen
producing five distinct chemical compounds, named respectively
nitrous oxide, nitric oxide, nitric tri-oxide, nitric tetroxide, nitric pent-
oxide, which last, united with water, forms nitric acid, now called
hydric nitrate, as nitrous acid is termed hydric nitrite.
Nitrous oxide gas is generally known by the name of “laughing gas,”
from the jolly sensations experienced on inhaling it. It may be
procured by distilling in a glass retort a salt called nitrate of
ammonia, which yields the gas in considerable quantities, and it
should be kept standing in jars over water for some hours before it is
used. It should be transferred into a silk air-tight bag, furnished with
a stop-cock and mouth-piece, from which the gas may be breathed;
a little practice is required to do this easily, and more resolution to
desist when the gas begins to produce its effects, as it appears to
fascinate the experimenter, and actual force is often necessary to
remove the bag from the mouth. The effects produced vary
according to the temperament of the person inhaling it; they are,
however, always of a highly pleasurable nature, muscular action
being generally greatly exalted, compelling the individual to race
round the apartment and execute leaps and pirouettes perfectly
astounding. Some persons shout and sing, and I have seen one
expend his superfluous animation in twisting his features into such
ludicrous grimaces as would be the envy of the candidates at a
grinning match, and beat them all out of the field.
This gas is heavier than air, and supports combustion nearly as
energetically as oxygen, as may be shown by introducing a piece of
ignited phosphorus into a jar of this gas. It will not, however, support
the life of small animals, such as mice, which introduced into it die
very quickly.
The next compound of nitrogen with oxygen, when one proportion of
nitrogen unites with two of oxygen, is termed nitric oxide gas. It may
be easily procured by heating in a retort some copper turnings in
dilute nitric acid. It is colorless and transparent, and has the property
of combining with oxygen to form other compounds.
 Experiment.
Into a jar of this gas standing over water pass some oxygen gas. The
jar will be filled with red fumes, which will be rapidly absorbed by the
water. If atmospheric air be used instead of oxygen, there will remain
in the jar the nitrogen of the air amounting to four-fifths of the air
employed.
This gas is destructive to animal life, in consequence of its property
of uniting with the oxygen in the lungs, and producing the highly
corrosive nitrous acid gas. It will, however, support the combustion of
a few substances, phosphorus for instance, provided it is sufficiently
heated before being plunged into the gas.
We pass over the third and fourth compounds of nitrogen with
oxygen, as they are not calculated for amusing experiments. Nitric
acid is easily prepared on the small scale, by gradually heating equal
parts by weight of nitric and sulphuric acid in a retort to which a
receiver has been adapted. The receiver, which may be a clean oil
flask, should be kept cool with wetted blotting paper.
Nitrogen combines with chlorine and iodine, forming detonating
compounds, the former being so extremely dangerous that it will be
better to pass it by.
The compound with iodine, called iodide of nitrogen, may very easily
be made by pouring a strong solution of ammonia (a compound of
nitrogen and hydrogen) upon some iodine in a vial, shaking them
well together, and after letting them stand for a few hours, pouring off
the fluid; the black powder remaining in the vial is the explosive
compound, the iodide of nitrogen. When dry, it is very apt to detonate
spontaneously; it should therefore be shaken out of the vial while
wet, and spread in very small quantities on separate pieces of
blotting paper, which should be kept apart from each other. When
thoroughly dry, the slightest touch with the point of a feather, shaking
the paper on which it rests, or even opening too rapidly the door of a
closet where it has been put to dry, will cause it to explode,
producing a quantity of violet-colored fumes. The explosion is
somewhat violent, producing a sharp cracking noise; and the
greatest care should be taken in experimenting with it.
 Atmospheric Air.
As has been already mentioned, nitrogen is the principal constituent
of the air of the atmosphere which surrounds our globe, extending to
a height of about forty-five miles above it, and playing a most
important part in the economy of nature, inorganic as well as
organic.
This atmospheric air consists by volume of nearly four-fifths of
nitrogen, and rather more than one-fifth of oxygen, viz.: seventy-nine
of the former to twenty-one of the latter, or twenty-three parts by
weight of oxygen and seventy-seven of nitrogen; it generally
contains also a variable proportion of the vapor of water, and a very
small quantity of carbonic acid gas, being only about four volumes to
10,000 of air. Its constituent parts are easily separated, as it is a
mechanical mixture and not a chemical compound, though the
mixture by diffusion is so complete that chemists have not been able
to ascertain any difference in the composition of air taken from all
parts of the world, and from different heights, up to the highest point
which has to this time been attained.
The atmosphere presses on the surface of the globe, and every
being on it, with a force of about fifteen pounds to every square inch
of surface, but as it presses equally in all directions, upwards as well
as downwards, its weight cannot be perceived unless the pressure
be removed from one surface by some artificial means.
Atmospheric air contains, besides the oxygen and nitrogen, its
principal constituents, a small proportion of carbonic acid gas, as has
been mentioned, and this may be shown by filling a tube about half
full of lime-water, and shaking it with the air contained in the other
half, when it will become slightly turbid from the insoluble carbonate
of lime formed.
When we consider that every living animal is constantly consuming
oxygen, and replacing it by carbonic acid gas, and that all burning
bodies, fires in our dwellings, furnaces, artificial lights of all kinds, act
in the same way in abstracting the oxygen from the air, and replacing
it by immense quantities of carbonic acid gas, which is a poison to all
animals who breathe, or attempt to breathe it, we must wonder what
becomes of this irrespirable gas, as it is found to exist in the air in
quantities so minute, and by what means the oxygen is restored, and
the air again made fit for respiration. This is effected by one of those
laws which the wisdom of the Creator has impressed upon matter, by
which one part of creation as it were balances another, and all
proceeds in an endless circle of change. This carbonic acid, which is
so poisonous to animal life, is the food of the vegetable world, plants
having the power of taking up the carbonic acid into their pores;
converting the carbon into their own substance, and rejecting the
oxygen, which is again respired by animals, &c. In the same way, all
animal refuse is the food of vegetables, and is used under the name
of manures.
The atmosphere contains also a variable quantity of vapor of water,
invisible as long as it is in the state of vapor, but it may be rendered
obvious by bringing any very cold body into warm air, when the
vapor will condense on the cold body in the form of small drops of
water. A tumbler of fresh-pumped water brought into a crowded room
is almost immediately covered with moisture, and it may also be
seen on bottles of wine which have been put into ice before coming
to table. Fogs are occasioned by the condensation of vapor
produced by mixing a current of warm air with a colder air. The
banks of Newfoundland are notorious for dense fogs, occasioned by
the warm air brought from the south by the great Gulf Stream, mixing
with the cold air from the Arctic regions, and thus precipitating the
vapor in a visible form, rendering everything but itself invisible. The
famous London fogs depend upon the same precipitation of the
vapor of water, with the addition of the smoke from the numerous
sea-coal fires, which give it that interesting yellow tinge for which it is
so remarkable.
Aqueous vapor appears to impart a transparency to air, and permits
objects to be seen more distinctly in proportion to its quantity; hence,
when distant hills appear nearer, and objects upon them more
distinct than usual, rain may be expected, the air being fully charged
with vapor ready to be deposited on the slightest cause.

Hydrogen.
Hydrogen gas is the lightest substance known, being fifteen times
lighter than atmospheric air. It is colorless and transparent, incapable
of supporting combustion or respiration, but is itself combustible.
Hydrogen, as its name implies (being derived from two Greek words,
signifying the generator of water), is a constituent of water in the
proportion of one-ninth by weight, and is always obtained by
decomposing that fluid, by presenting to it some body to take up its
other ingredient, oxygen, and so set the hydrogen at liberty. If the
steam of water be passed through a red-hot gun-barrel, containing
iron filings, the water is decomposed, the iron taking the oxygen, and
the hydrogen comes over in torrents; but as every one has not a
gun-barrel and furnace to heat it, the usual mode is to employ dilute
sulphuric acid, and iron filings, or zinc, in small pieces, and it may be
collected over water by means of a bent tube issuing from the bottle
in which it is formed. It is so light that it was used to fill balloons
before coal gas was to be had, and if you procure a light air-tight bag
of silk, or thin membrane, such as a turkey’s crop, and fill it with gas,
it will ascend rapidly, and dance about the ceiling of a room.

Experiments.
1. Attach a tobacco-pipe to a bladder filled with this gas, and blow
some soap-bubbles with it; they will rise very rapidly, and if a lighted
taper be applied to them they burn.
If you mix in a soda-water bottle one-third of oxygen with two-thirds
of hydrogen, and apply flame, the mixture will explode with a sharp
report. Great care must be taken in all experiments with the mixed
gases. To avoid danger the gases are placed in separate India-
rubber bags, and are only brought together at the jet. This is an
expensive apparatus, and should only be used by experienced
persons.
2. If a jar of this gas be held with its mouth downwards, and a lighted
taper passed up well into the jar, the taper will be extinguished, and
the gas take fire, and burn quietly at the mouth of the jar; if mixed
with oxygen or atmospheric air, it will explode.
Hold open the jet of hydrogen issuing from a small tube, hollow
cylinders of glass or earthenware, Florence flasks, or hollow glass
balls, and musical sounds will be produced, which were supposed to
depend on some peculiar property of hydrogen gas, until Mr.
Faraday tried flame from coal gas, olefiant gas, and even the vapor
of ether, when the sounds were still produced, and he attributed
them to a continuous explosion, or series of explosions, produced by
the union of oxygen with the hydrogen of the flames.

Water.
With oxygen, hydrogen unites to form the important compound
water, which exists not only in the obvious form of oceans, rivers,
lakes, rains, dews, &c., &c., but is found intimately combined with
many substances, giving them some of their peculiar properties.
Many crystals have a definite proportion of water combined with
them, and on losing this water they lose their crystalline form. Many
acids also cannot exist as acids without water. The slaking of lime
depends upon the union of water with the lime, the dry powder
resulting from the process being a hydrate of lime, the water having
become solidified, and in passing from the fluid to the solid state
gives out its latent caloric, producing the heat observed during the
process. When a large quantity of lime, a barge-load for instance,
has got wetted by accident, the heat evolved has been sufficient to
set fire to the barge.
At the temperature of 32° of Fahrenheit’s thermometer, water loses
its fluid form, and becomes ice. As it solidifies, it starts into beautiful
crystals, which unite and cross each other at determinate angles. Ice
is lighter than the water on which it floats, forming a protection to the
water beneath, and preventing it from being frozen so rapidly; else, if
the ice were heavier than water, and consequently sank as soon as
formed, each portion of water would be frozen in its turn, until rivers
became solid throughout, and every living creature in them must be
destroyed. Now, the temperature of the water under the ice is
seldom much below 40°, and if care be taken to break holes at
intervals to allow access to the air, the fish and other aquatic animals
seldom suffer even in our coldest winters.