HOME STUDIES IN CHEMISTRY.
[1.] “Grotto del Cane,” grotˈto del caˈnā. Grotto of the dog. An excavation at the foot of a hill not far from Naples. The “American Cyclopædia” says of it: “It would seem from Pliny’s reference to it as ‘Charon’s ditches,’ that in his time the mephitic gas for which it is still remarkable was exhaled in quantity sufficient to prove fatal to human life. At the present time this forms but a shallow stratum on the floor, in which a candle is extinguished and dogs are stifled by way of experiment. The custom of exhibiting the effect of the carbonic acid gas upon dogs has given the distinctive name to the grotto.”
[2.] “Kilkenny Cats.” “The story of two cats which fought so ferociously in a saw pit that when the battle was over only the tail of each was left. This is an allegorical representation of the municipalities of Kilkenny and Irish-town, who contended so stoutly about boundaries and rights to the end of the seventeenth century that they mutually impoverished each other—ate each other up, leaving only a tail of each behind.”
[3.] “Babcock’s Fire Extinguisher.” This instrument consists of an iron cylinder, in which are placed suitable quantities of the materials that, uniting, generate carbonic acid gas. There is an arrangement in the extinguisher by which the materials are brought in contact, and the gas when needed is instantly generated; as provision is made for its egress a stream can be poured on the flame to extinguish it.
[4.] “Fire Grenade,” gre-nādeˈ. A hollow ball in which the gas is generated and which is thrown into the flames. The gas escaping extinguishes the fire.
[5.] “As-phyxˈi-a.” Apparent death resulting from suffocation, drowning, or inhalation of certain gases.