Experimental Researches in Chemistry and Physics

Front Cover
R. Taylor and W. Francis, 1859 - 496 pages
 

Contents

I
1
II
5
III
6
V
11
VI
13
VII
18
VIII
21
IX
27
XXX
174
XXXI
182
XXXII
199
XXXIII
205
XXXIV
212
XXXV
213
XXXVI
215
XXXVII
217

X
29
XI
31
XIII
33
XIV
53
XV
57
XVII
81
XVIII
85
XIX
89
XX
96
XXI
124
XXII
135
XXIII
141
XXIV
142
XXVI
143
XXVII
152
XXVIII
153
XXIX
154
XXXVIII
219
XXXIX
221
XL
222
XLII
230
XLIII
231
XLV
291
XLVI
311
XLVII
314
XLVIII
358
XLIX
362
L
366
LI
372
LII
382
LIII
391
LIV
443
LV
463

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Page 480 - The world little knows how many of the thoughts and theories which have passed through the mind of a scientific investigator have been crushed in silence and secrecy by his own severe criticism and adverse examination ; that in the most successful instances not a tenth of the suggestions, the hopes, the wishes, the preliminary conclusions have been realized.
Page 463 - The laws of nature, as we understand them, are the foundation of our knowledge in natural things. So much as we know of them has been developed by the successive energies of the highest intellects, exerted through many ages. After a most rigid and scrutinizing examination upon principle and trial, a definite expression has been given to them; they have become, as it were, our belief or trust. From day to day we still examine and test our expressions of them. We have no interest in their retention...
Page 391 - Its development of color both in the reflected and transmitted rays ; because of the state of tenuity and division which it permitted with the preservation of its integrity as a metallic body : because of its supposed simplicity of character, and because known phenomena appeared to indicate that a mere variation in the size of its particles gave rise to a variety of resultt'.nt colors.
Page 453 - ... with particles altogether different. They also lead our thoughts to the conversion of one form of power into another : as for instance, in the heat which the elements of a voltaic pile may either show at the place where they act by their combustion or combination together ; or in the distance, where the electric spark may be rendered manifest ; or in the wire or fluids of the different parts of the circuit. When we occupy ourselves with the dual forms of power, electricity and magnetism, we find...
Page 86 - ... which the fluid lay was not very yellow at 50° or 60°, it seemed probable that the pressure required was not beyond what could readily be obtained by a condensing syringe. A long tube was therefore furnished with a cap and stop-cock, then exhausted of air and filled with chlorine, and being held vertically with the syringe upwards, air was forced in, which thrust the chlorine to the bottom of the tube, and gave a pressure of about 4 atmospheres. Being now cooled, there was an immediate deposit...
Page 442 - I urge, that the conservation of force ought to be admitted as a physical principle in all our hypotheses, whether partial or general, regarding the actions of matter. I have had doubts in my own mind whether the considerations I am about to advance are not rather metaphysical than physical. I am unable to define what is metaphysical in physical science ; and am exceedingly adverse to the easy and unconsidered admission of one supposition upon another, suggested as they often are by very imperfect...
Page 58 - ... ascertain whether any alloy could be artificially formed, better, for the purpose of making cutting-instruments, than steel in its purest state ; and secondly, whether any such alloys would, under similar circumstances, prove less susceptible of oxidation ; — new metallic combinations for reflecting mirrors were also a collateral object of research.
Page 385 - ... latter had lagged behind — that the hand, in fact, had pushed the upper card to the left, and that the under cards and the table had followed and been dragged by it. In other similar cases when the table had not moved, still the upper card was found to have moved, showing that the hand had carried it in the expected direction. It was evident, therefore, that the table had not drawn the hand and person round, nor had it moved simultaneously with the hand. The. hand had left all things under...
Page 88 - ... decomposition of water would occur, and euchlorine and muriatic acid be formed ; or that the chlorine would separate in a condensed state. This last result having been obtained, it evidently led to other researches of the same kind. I shall hope on a future occasion, to detail some general views on the subject of these researches. I shall now merely mention, that by sealing muriate of ammonia and sulphuric acid in a strong glass tube, and causing them to act upon each other, I have procured liquid...
Page 451 - ... but I think that when founded on gravitating phenomena, they appear in their greatest simplicity ; and precisely for this reason, that gravitation has not yet been connected by any degree of convertibility with the other forms of force. If I refer for a few minutes to these other forms, it is only to point in their variations, to the proofs of the value of the principle laid down, the consistency of the known phenomena with it, and the suggestions of research and discovery which arise from it.*...

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