CAROLINE.
And this water, naturally, descends in the form of rain?
MRS. B.
That probably is often the case, though it is not a necessary consequence; for the water may be dissolved by the atmosphere, as it descends towards the lower regions, and remain there in the form of clouds.
The application of electrical attraction to chemical phenomena is likely to lead to many very interesting discoveries in meteorology; for electricity evidently acts a most important part in the atmosphere. This subject however, is, as yet, not sufficiently developed for me to venture enlarging upon it. The phenomena of the atmosphere are far from being well understood; and even with the little that is known, I am but imperfectly acquainted.
But before we take leave of hydrogen, I must not omit to mention to you a most interesting discovery of Sir H. Davy, which is connected with this subject.
CAROLINE.
You allude, I suppose, to the new miner’s lamp, which has of late been so much talked of? I have long been desirous of knowing what that discovery was, and what purpose it was intended to answer.
MRS. B.
It often happens in coal-mines, that quantities of the gas, called by chemists hydro-carbonat, or by the miners fire-damp, (the same from which the gas-lights are obtained,) ooze out from fissures in the beds of coal, and fill the cavities in which the men are at work; and this gas being inflammable, the consequence is, that when the men approach those places with a lighted candle, the gas takes fire, and explosions happen which destroy the men and horses employed in that part of the colliery, sometimes in great numbers.