Volume 1

The chemistry of common life / by James F.W. Johnston.

  • Johnston, Jas. F. W. (James Finlay Weir), 1796-1855.
Date:
1859
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The chemistry of common life / by James F.W. Johnston. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME. CHAPTER I. THE AIR WE BREATHE. ] Height of the earth’s atmosphere ; it is one of the elements of the ancients— Composition of the atmosphere.—Oxygen, preparation and properties of.— Nitrogen, preparation and properties of.—Proportions of these elements in the air; their adaptation in kind and quantity to the existing condition of things.—Uses of the oxygen and nitrogen.—Uses of the carbonic acid; its importance to vegetable life.—Deleterious influence upon animal life.—The “ Poison Valley” of Java.—Importance of the watery vapour of the air; its constant circulation.—Formation of rain and dew; their many uses.—Acci- dental constituents of the air; ozone, nitric acid, and ammonia,—Vapours which rise from the surface of the earth, and saline matters from the sea, CHAPTER II. THE WATER WE DRINK. Importance of water in nature.—Composition of water.—Hydrogen gas; how prepared; the lightest of known substances, and an inflammable gas ; exists in nearly all combustible substances; is always converted into water when these substances are burned.—In water hydrogen is combined with oxygen.— What is meant by a chemical combination.—Water without taste and smell; importance of this.—Cooling property of water.-jjRelation of water to other liquids.—It dissolves many solid substances; hence natural waters never pure.—Quantity of mineral matter in some knowu river, spring, and sea waters.—Composition of the solid matter in sea water ; in the Thames water at Kew ; and in that of the Kent Water Company.—Lime held in solution in water by carbonic acid.—Why calcareous waters encrust their channels, petrify, and deposit sediments in boilers.—Impurity of spring waters in large