d whether the latter
shewed itself when some of the caustic ley was poured into lime water;
but in vain--no precipitation took place. Indeed, I tried in several
ways to obtain the lost air from this alkaline mixture, but as the
results were similar to the foregoing, in order to avoid prolixity I
shall not cite these experiments. Thus much I see from the experiments
mentioned, that the air consists of two fluids, differing from each
other, the one of which does not manifest in the least the property of
attracting phlogiston, while the other, which composes between the third
and the fourth part of the whole mass of the air, is peculiarly disposed
to such attraction. But where this latter kind of air has gone to after
it has united with the inflammable substance, is a question which must
be decided by further experiments, and not by conjectures.

We shall now see how the air behaves towards inflammable substances when
they get into fiery motion. We shall first consider that kind of fire
which does not give out during the combustion any fluid resembling air.

+17. First Experiment.+--I placed 9 grains of phosphorus from urine in a
thin flask, which was capable of holding 30 ounces of water, and closed
its mouth very tightly. I then heated, with a burning candle, the part
of the flask where the phosphorus lay; the phosphorus began to melt, and
immediately afterwards took fire; the flask became filled with a white
cloud, which attached itself to the sides like white flowers; this was
the dry acid of phosphorus. After the flask had become cold again, I
held it, inverted, under water and opened it; scarcely had this been
done when the external air pressed water into the flask; this water
amounted to 9 ounces.

+18. Second Experiment.+--When I placed pieces of phosphorus in the same
flask and allowed it to stand, closed, for 6 weeks, or until it no
longer glowed, I found that 1/3 of the air had been lost.

+19. Third Experiment.+--I placed 3 teaspoonfuls of iron filings in a
bottle capable of holding 2 ounces of water; to this I added an ounce of
water, and gradually mixed with them half an ounce of oil of vitriol. A
violent heating and fermentation took place. When the froth had somewhat
subsided, I fixed into the bottle an accurately fitting cork, through
which I had previously fixed a glass tube A (Fig. 1). I placed this
bottle in a vessel filled with hot water, B B (cold water would greatly
retard the solution). I t