will even bear a temperature of 170° F. before it boils, at ordinary pressure. It is the substance referred to by Dr Henry, in the Philosophical Transactions, 1821, p. 159.
There is no reason for believing that oil gas, or olefiant gas, has, as yet, been condensed into a liquid, or that it will take that form at common temperatures under a pressure of five, or ten, or even twenty atmospheres. If it were possible, a small, safe, and portable gas lamp would immediately offer itself to us, which might be filled with liquid without being subject to any greater force than the strength of its vapour, and would afford an abundant supply of gas as long as any of the liquid remained. Immediately upon the condensation of cyanogen, which takes place at 50° F. at a pressure under four atmospheres, I made such a lamp with it. It succeeded perfectly, but, of course, either the expense of the gas, the faint light of its flame, or its poisonous qualities, would preclude its application. But we may, perhaps, without being considered extravagant, be allowed to search in the products of oil, resins, coal, &c., distilled, or otherwise treated, with this object in view, for a substance, which being a gas at common temperatures and pressure, shall condense into a liquid, by a pressure of from two to six or eight atmospheres, and which being combustible, shall afford a lamp of the kind described[1].
Atmospheric Air.—As my object is to draw attention to the results obtained in the liquefaction of gases before the date of those described in the Philosophical Transactions for 1823, I need not, perhaps, refer to the notice given in the Annals of Philosophy, N.S. vi. 66, of the supposed liquefaction of atmospheric air, by Mr. Perkins, under a pressure of about 1100 atmospheres, but as such
- ↑ In reference to the probability of such results, see a paper "On Olefiant Gas." Annals of Philosophy, N.S. iii. 37.
