No. XLV.—A CURIOUS PHENOMENON
Equal volumes of alcohol and water, when mixed, occupy less space than when separate, to the extent indicated in this picture:
If the sum of the volume of the two separate liquids is 100, the volume of the mixture will be only 94. It is thought that the molecules of the two liquids accommodate themselves to each other, so as to reduce the pores and diminish the volume of the mixture.
41
Cut off my head, I’m every inch a king,
A warrior formed to deal a heavy blow;
Halve what remains, my second is a thing
Which nothing but my third can e’er make go.
My whole will vary as you take your line,
This less than human, that way all divine.
42
One half of me in solid earth you find,
The other half in ocean’s ample bed:
When in my whole we see these parts combined,
The earth remains, but all the sea is fled.