" This nitrogen in its ordinary state is an inactive
element; no action short of the most intense electric force, and then in
the most infinitely small degree, can cause the nitrogen to combine
directly with the other element of the atmosphere, or with other things
round about it; it is a perfectly indifferent, and therefore to say, a
safe substance.
But before I take you to that result, I must tell you about the atmosphere
itself. I have written on this diagram the composition of one hundred
parts of atmospheric air:--
Bulk. Weight.
Oxygen, . . . . . 20 22.3
Nitrogen, . . . . 80 77.7
---- -----
l00 100.0
It is a true analysis of the atmosphere, so far as regards the quantity of
oxygen and the quantity of nitrogen present. By our analysis, we find that
5 pints of the atmosphere contain only 1 pint of oxygen, and 4 pints, or 4
parts, of nitrogen by bulk. That is our analysis of the atmosphere. It
requires all that quantity of nitrogen to reduce the oxygen down, so as to
be able to supply the candle properly with fuel, so as to supply us with
an atmosphere which our lungs can healthily and safely breathe; for it is
just as important to make the oxygen right for us to breathe, as it is to
make the atmosphere right for the burning of the fire and the candle.
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