Scientific amusements . nturies. Geber, the alchemist, was acquaintedwith a substance called nitric, which he found wouldyield a dissolvent under certain circumstances. He calledit dissolving fluid. At the end of the twelfth centuryAlbert Magnus investigated the properties of this acid, andin 1235 Raymond Lully prepared nitre with clay, andgave the liquid the name of aqua-fortis. But till 1849nitric acid was only known as a hydrate,—that is, in com-bination with water,—but now we have the anhydrous acid. Oxygen and nitrogen combine under the influence ofelectricity, as shown by Cavendish, who
Scientific amusements . nturies. Geber, the alchemist, was acquaintedwith a substance called nitric, which he found wouldyield a dissolvent under certain circumstances. He calledit dissolving fluid. At the end of the twelfth centuryAlbert Magnus investigated the properties of this acid, andin 1235 Raymond Lully prepared nitre with clay, andgave the liquid the name of aqua-fortis. But till 1849nitric acid was only known as a hydrate,—that is, in com-bination with water,—but now we have the anhydrous acid. Oxygen and nitrogen combine under the influence ofelectricity, as shown by Cavendish, who passed a currentthrough an atmospheric mixture of oxygen and nitrogen,in a tube terminating in a solution of potash, lime, and NITROGEN. 83 soda. Every time the spark passed, the volume of ,diminished, and nitric acid was formed, as it is in thunder-storms, when it does not remain free, but unites withammonia, and forms a highly useful salt, which promotesvegetable growth. Here is another instance of the useful-. Apparatus for obtaining nitrogen by using metal to absorb the oxygen of the air ne=s of thunderstorms, and of the grand provisions ofnature for our benefit. Nitric acid is obtained by distillingnitre with sulphuric acid. The liquid is, when pure,colourless, and is a powerful oxidizer. : It dissolves mostmetals, and destroys vegetable and animal substances. 84 CHEMISTRY. By an addition of a little sulphuric acid the water is takenfrom the nitric acid, and a very powerful form of it is theresijlt. The acid is of great use in medicine, and as anapplication to bites of rabid animals or serpents. It con-verts cotton waste into gun-cotton by a very simpleprocess of steeping, washing, and pressing. From thehydraulic press it comes in discs like quoits, which willburn harmlessly and smoulder away, but if detonated they
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade189, booksubjectscientificrecreations
