AMMONIA GAS AND CHLOROHYDRIC GAS MEETING IN THE AIR AND FORMING AMMONIC CHLORIDE.
Experiment.—Place some ammonia in one glass and chlorohydric acid in the other. Ammonia gas (NH₃) and chlorohydric gas (HCl) will meet in the air and form ammonic chloride (NH₄Cl).
Once upon a time, as the story goes, the King of the Acids, whose name is Sulphuric, arrogantly walked forth to view his wide domain. He was sour and fierce. Many conquests had made him boastful, until he thought himself the mightiest of the earth. Soon he came to where the King of the Metals, whose name is Gold, sat in royal state, his countenance shining with wonderful beauty. The haughty monarch of the Acids was angered as he approached, to see that his rival did not recognize him, nor acknowledge his power. “I am mightier than thou!” he said, but King Gold smiled in silent derision. Thereupon the former fiercely attacked him, but was easily repulsed. The savage aggressor, insane with rage, went away muttering, “I have two sons who can slay thee!” He instantly commanded Nitric Acid and Hydrochloric at once to unite in an attack upon his opponent. Their father gave them a banner on which was inscribed “Aqua Regia,” which might be translated “King Slayer.” It was indeed too true a symbol. Alas! before their combined onslaught the royal metal yielded. The old king now grew more arrogant than ever, and boastfully announced that his sway knew no limits. One day he discovered, in his walk, one of a smooth and gentle countenance, yet with an expression indicating that if aroused he might make biting and caustic replies. It was Potassa, King of the Alkalies. From hot words, they soon passed to blows, until in the wild struggle both were slain. Horrible to contemplate, they ate each other! The spot on which they perished can still be pointed out. This story is a warning to vaulting ambition, and a tragedy surpassed in pathos only by the mournful story of the Kilkenny cats![2]
CARBONIC ANHYDRIDE, CO₂.
This substance is also called carbonic di-oxide and carbonic acid gas. It is the dreaded “choke-damp” of the miner. It Is produced when carbon unites with O, whether by the decay of vegetation, combustion of vegetable matter, or the oxidation of the blood. It is so heavy that it may be poured or dipped out from vessel to vessel, like water. It extinguishes flame, and is largely employed for that purpose in contrivances like the Babcock Fire Extinguisher,[3] and the more recent Fire Grenade.[4] Taken into the stomach in the form of soda water it is refreshing and beneficial, but its inhalation is always injurious, and will produce death if breathed in considerable quantity, by causing asphyxia.[5] A practical problem of great importance is that of ventilation, as this material is constantly being thrown off from the lungs, of both animals and men. In the days of ample fire-places, our homes, if they had less heat had purer air. The railroad car, in point of comfort, is a marvelous improvement over the ancient stage coach, but the latter was better in the matter of ventilation. The sleepiness of congregations should be attributed as much to the foul air as to the dull preaching. Can not some of our writers on homiletics prepare us a stirring chapter on the relation of carbonic acid to eloquence?
Homes, school houses, and all public buildings should be supplied in some way with a gentle and universal circulation of air. Fierce draughts should by all means be avoided. Ventilation is now generally best secured by the construction of flues in the wall, which have openings in the lower and upper portion of the room. The world yet waits to bless the inventor of a simple and effective system of ventilation which is of universal application.
OTHER ATMOSPHERES.
As has been suggested, there must be in the air a variable quantity of other substances beside those named as forming its mass. Ammonia gas (NH₃) is present, and it is from this material that most of the nitrogen found in plants is obtained. Water readily absorbs it and conveys it to the roots. Other elements require only additional heat to volatilize them. Almost all of the elements of nature have been liquefied; carbonic acid has been solidified, forming a beautiful white solid, intensely cold. It is generally accepted as a truth that all substances could be solidified by the sufficient removal of heat, and it would of course follow that they could all be vaporized by applying heat enough. In earlier geologic times many of the materials forming our earth must have existed as vapor in the heated atmosphere, and the time will come when our globe will have no atmosphere, no seas, lakes, nor rivers. It will float in space, cold and desolate like the moon.
The opposite of this condition can be seen to-day in many of the heavenly bodies. The spectroscope reveals in the sun’s atmosphere gold, iron, copper, zinc, and many other substances. Vast disturbances are constantly heaving and tossing these materials, which are intensely heated. The cyclonic movements are so violent and extensive that the wildest hurricanes of our earth would seem as zephyrs in comparison.
Hydrogen flames have flared out one hundred thousand miles from its surface. It has been suggested that the mighty fires in the sun may be fed by millions of meteoric bodies which are tossed into its raging heats by the power of gravity. Nothing could withstand such terrible combustion. Lockyer says that if all of the sun’s heat were concentrated upon a mass of ice as large as the earth it would melt it in two minutes, and convert it into vapor in fifteen.