I do this for the purpose of shewing you the value of lime
as a material for the furnaces and chambers that are to contain the
substances to be operated on, and that are consequently to sustain the
action of this extreme heat. Here we have the hydrogen and the oxygen,
which will give the most intense heat that can be obtained by chemical
action; and if I put a piece of lime into the flame, we get what is called
the lime-light. Now, with all the beauty and intensity of action which you
perceive, there is no sensible deterioration of the lime except by the
mechanical force of the current of gases rushing from the jet against the
lime, sweeping away such particles as are not strongly aggregated. "Vapour
of lime" some call it; and it may be so, but there is no other change of
the lime than that under the action of heat of this highly-exalted
chemical condition, though almost any other substance would melt at once.
Then, as to the way in which the heat is applied to the substance. It is
all very well for me to take a piece of antimony, and fuse it in the flame
of a blowpipe. But if I tried this piece in the ordinary lamp flame, I
should do nothing; if I tried a smaller piece, I should do little or
nothing; and if I tried a still smaller piece, I should do little or
nothing; yet I have a condition which will represent what Deville carries
to the highest possible extent, and which we all carry to the highest
extent, in the use of the blowpipe.
Pages:
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163