[p.i]
THE DEDICATION
TO THE
RIGHT HONOURABLE
John
Earl of SANDWICH,
FIRST LORD COMMISSIONER
O F
T H E A D M I R A L T Y,
&c.
&c. &c.
M Y
L O R D,
THE favorable manner in which your Lordship, and other Lords
Commissioners of the Admiralty, received my proposals [p.ii]
for improving the water used at sea, by impregnating it with fixed air,
demands my thanks, and those of the public in general; who will
observe, with pleasure and gratitude, that whatever promises but the
smallest advantage to them, with respect to so important a department
in the state as that of your Lordship, is immediately attended to.
To render any future orders that your Lordship may be
pleased to give for the trial of this medicated water, the more easily
executed, and also to give it the chance of being [p.iii]
more extensively useful, at land as well as at sea, I have drawn up the
following easy directions for making it, and take the liberty to
inscribe the publication to your Lordship.
I am,
My Lord,
Your Lordship's
Most obedient
Humble servant,
JOSEPH PRIESTLEY
The method of impregnating water with fixed air, of which a description
is given in this pamphlet, I hit upon in a course of experiments, an
account of which was lately communicated to the Royal Society;
containing observations on several different kinds of air, with only a
hint of the method of combining this particular kind of water or other
fluids. Judging that water thus impregnated with fixed air must be
particularly serviceable in long voyages, by preventing or curing the
sea-scurvy, according to the theory of Dr. MacBride, and all the
Physicians of my acquaintance concurring with me in that opinion, I
made the first communication of it to the Lords of the Admiralty,, who
referred me to the College of Physicians; and those gentlemen being
pleased to make a report favorable to the scheme, a trial has
been ordered to be made of it on board some of his majesty's ships. To
make this process more generally known, and that more frequent trials
may be made of water thus medicated, at land as well as at sea, I have
been induced to make the present publication.
Sir John Pringle first observed, that putrefaction
was checked by fermentation, and Dr. MacBride discovered that this
effect was produced by the fixed air which is generated in that
process, and upon that principle recommended the use of wort,
as supplying a quantity of this fixed air, by fermentation in the
stomach, in the same manner as it is done by fresh vegetables, for
which he, therefore, thought that it would be a substitute; and
experience has confirmed his conjecture. Dr. Black found that in
limestone, and all calcareous substances, contain fixed air, and the
presence of it makes that what is called mild, and that the deprivation of it renders them caustic;
Dr. Brownrigg farther discovered that Pyrmont, and other mineral
waters, which have the same acidulous taste, contain a considerable
proportion of this very kind of air, and that upon this their peculiar [p.3]
spirit and virtues depend; and I think myself fortunate in having hit
upon a very easy method of communicating this air (and in a much larger
proportion than mineral waters contain it) to any kind of water, or,
indeed, to almost any fluid substance. In short, by this method this
great antiseptic principle may be administered in a variety of
agreeable vehicles.
If this discovery (though it doth not deserve that
name) be of any use to my countrymen, and to mankind at large, I shall
have my reward. For this purpose I have made the communication as early
as I conveniently could, since the latest improvements that I have made
in the process; and I cannot help expressing my wishes, that all
persons, who discover any thing that promises to be generally useful,
would adopt the same method.
[p.4 blank]
[p.5]
D I R E C T I O N S F O R
I M P R E G N A T I N G W A T E R
W I T H
F I X E D A I R.
IF
water be only in contact with fixed air, it will begin to imbibe it,
but the mixture is greatly accelerated by agitation, which is
continually bringing fresh particles of air and water into contact. All
that is necessary, therefore, to make this process expeditious and
effectual, is first to procure a sufficient quantity of this fixed air,
and then to contrive a method by which the air and water may be
strongly agitated in the same vessel, without any danger of admitting
the common air to them; and this is easily done by first filling any
vessel with water, and introducing the fixed air to it, while it
stands inverted in another vessel of water. That every part of the
process may be as intelligible as possible, [p.6]
even those who have no previous knowledge of the subject, I shall
describe it very minutely, subjoining several remarks and observations
relating to varieties in the process, and other things of a
miscellaneous nature.
T H E P R E P A R A T I O N.
TAKE a glass vessel, a, fig.1,
with a pretty narrow neck, but so formed that it will stand upright
with its mouth downwards, and, having filled it with water, lay a slip
of clean paper, or thin pasteboard, upon it. Then, if they be pressed
close together, the vessel may be turned upside down, without danger of
admitting any, (or, however, much) common air into it; and when it is
thus inverted, it must be placed in another vessel ion the form of a
bowl or bason, b, with a little water in it, so much as to permit the slip of paper or pasteboard to be withdrawn, and the end of the pipe c to be introduced.
[p.7] This pipe must be
flexible. and air tight, for which purpose it is, I believe, best made
of leather, sewed with wax thread, in the manner used by shoe-makers.
Into each end of this pipe a piece of a quill should be thrust, to keep
them open, while one of them is introduced into the vessel of water,
and the other into the bladder, d,
the opposite end of which is tied round a cork, which must be
perforated, the hole being kept open by a quill; and the cork must fit
a phial e, two thirds of which should be filled with chalk just covered with water.
T H E P R O C E S S
THINGS being thus prepared, and the phial containing the chalk and
water being detached from the bladder, and the pipe also from the
vessel of water; pour a little oil of vitriol1
upon the chalk and water; and having carefully pressed all the common
air out of the bladder, put the cork into the bottle presently after
the effervescence has begun. Also press the bladder once more after a [p.8]
little of the newly generated air has got into it, in order the more
effectually to clear it of all the remains of the common air; and then
introduce the end of the pipe into the mouth of the vessel of water, as
in the drawing, and begin to agitate the chalk and water briskly. This
will presently produce a considerable quantity of fixed air, which will
distend the bladder; and this being pressed, the air will force its way
through the pipe, and ascend into the vessel of water, the water, at
the same time, descending, and coming into the bason.
When about one half of the water is forced out, let
the operator lay his hand upon the uppermost part of the vessel, and
shake it as briskly as he can, not to throw the water out of the bason
and in a few minutes the water will absorb the air; and taking its
place, will nearly fill the vessel as the first. Then shake the phial
containing the chalk and water again, and force more air into the
vessel, till, upon the whole, about an equal bulk of air has been
thrown into it. Also shake the water as before, till no more of [p.9]
the air can be inhibited. As soon as this is perceived to be case, the
water is ready for use; and if it be not used immediately, should be
put into a bottle as soon as possible, well corked, and cemented. It
will keep however very well if the bottle be only well corked, and kept
with the mouth downwards.
O B S E R V A T I O N S
1. The bason may be placed inverted upon the vessel
full of water, with a slip of paper between them, and then both turned
upside-down together; but all this trouble will be saved by having a
larger vessel of water, in which they may be both immersed.
2. If the vessel containing the water to be agitated
be large, it may be most convenient first to place it inverted, in a
bason full of water, and then to draw out the common air my means of a
syphon, either making use of a syringe, or drawing it out with the
mouth. In this case, also, some kind of handle should be fastened to
the bottom of the vessel, for the more easy agitation of it.
[p.10] 3. A narrow
mouthed vessel is not necessary, bit it is the most proper for the
purpose, because it may be agitated with less danger of the common air
getting into it.
4. The flexible pipe is not necessary, though I
think it is exceedingly convenient. When it is not used, a bent pipe, a
fig.2 (for which glass is the most proper) must be ready to be inserted
into the hole made in the cork, when the bladder containing the fixed
air is separated from the phial, in which it was generated . The
extremity of this tube being put under the vessel of water, the bladder
being compressed, the air will be conveyed into it, as before.
5. If the use of a bladder be objected to, though
nothing can be more inoffensive, the phial containing the chalk and
water must not be agitated at all, or with the greatest caution; unless
a small phial, a, fig.3, be
interposed between the phial and the vessel of water, in the manner
represented in the drawing. For by this means the chalk [p.11] and water that may be thrown up the tube b will lodge at the bottom of the phial a, while nothing but the air will get into the pipe c, and so enter the water. If the tube b be made of tin or copper, the small phial a
will not need any other support, the cork into which the extremities of
both the tubes are inserted being made to fit the phial very exactly.
6. The phial e, fig.1, should always be placed or held, considerably lower than the vessel a;
that if any part of the mixture should be thrown up into the bladder,
it may remain in the lower part of it, from which it may be easily
pressed back again. This, however, is not necessary, since if it remain
in the lower part of the bladder, nothing but the pure air will get
into the pipe, and so into the water.
7. If much more than half of the vessel be filled
with air, there will not be a body of water sufficient to agitate, and
the process will take up much more time.
8. If the chalk be too finely powdered, it will yield the fixed air too fast.
[p.12] 9. After every process the water to which the chalk is put must be changed.
10. It will be proper to fill the bladder with water
once a day, after it has been used, that any of the oil of vitriol
which may have got into it, and would be in danger of corroding it, may
be thoroughly diluted.
11. The vessel which I have generally made use of,
holds about three pints, and the phial containing the chalk and water
is one of ten ounces; and I find that about the quantity of a
tea-spoonful of oil of vitriol is sufficient to produce as much air as
will impregnate that quantity of water.
12. If the vessel containing the water be larger,
the phial containing the chalk and the oil of vitriol should either be
larger in proportion, or fresh water and oil of vitriol must be put to
the chalk, to produce the requisite quantity of air.
[p.13] 13. In general
the whole process does not take up more than about a quarter of an
hour, the agitation not five minutes; and in nearly the same time might
a vessel of water, containing two or three gallons, or indeed any
quantity that a person could shake, be impregnated with fixed air, if
the phial containing the chalk and oil of vitriol, be larger in same
proportion.
14. To give the water as much air as it can receive
in this way, the process may be repeated with water thus impregnated.
This will be useful when the water is intended to be kept a long time;
but, as much air may be communicated to water by a single process as
will be generally agreeable. very nearly an equal bulk of air may be
communicated to a quantity of water by one operation, and something
more than an equal bulk by two, but very little will be gained by
repeating it oftener; since, after some time, as much fixed air will
escape from that part of the surface of the water which is exposed to
the common air, as can be imbibed from within the vessel.
[p.14] 15. All
calcareous substances contain fixed air, and any acids may be used in
order to set it loose from them; but chalk and oil of vitriol are, both
of them, not only the cheapest, but in all other respects the most
effectual for the purpose.
16. It may be possibly imagined that part of the oil
of vitriol is rendered volatile in this process, and so becomes mixed
with the water, but it does not appear, by the most rigid chymical
examination, that the least perceivable quantity of the acid gets into
the water in this way; and if so small a quantity as a single drop of
oil of vitriol be mixed with a pint of water (and a much greater
quantity would be far from making it less wholesome) it might be
discovered. The experiments which were made to ascertain this fact were
made with distilled water,
the disagreeable taste of which is not taken off, in any degree, by the
mixture of fixed air. Otherwise, distilled water, being clogged
with no foreign principle, will imbibe the fixed air faster, and retain
a greater quantity of it then other water. In the experiments that were
made [p.15] for this purpose I was
assisted by Mr. Hey, a surgeon in this town, who is well skilled in the
methods of examining the properties of mineral waters.
17. Doctor Brownrigg, who made his experiments on
Pyrmont water at the spring head, never found that it contained so much
as one half of an equal bulk of air; but in this method the water is
easily made to imbibe an equal bulk. For it must be observed that a
considerable quantity of the most soluble part of the air, is
incorporated with the water, as it first ascends through it, before it
occupies its place, in the upper part of the vessel.
18. The heat of boiling water, will expel all the
fixed air, if a phial containing this impregnated water be held in it;
but it will often require above half an hour to effect it compleatly.
19. If any person would chuse to make this medicated
water more nearly to resemble genuine Pyrmont water, Sir John Pringle
informs me, that from with to ten [p.16] drops of Tinctura Martis cum spiritu salis8
must be mixed with every pint of it. It is agreed, however, on all
hands, that the peculiar virtues of Pyrmont, or any other mineral water
which has the same brisk or acidulous taste, depend not upon its being
a chalybeate2, but upon the fixed air which it contains.
But water impregnated with fixed air does of itself
dissolve iron, as the ingenious Mr. Lane has discovered; and iron
filings put to this medicated water make a strong and agreeable
chalybeates, which hold the iron in solution by means of fixed air
only, and not by means of any acid; and these chalybeates, I am
informed, are generally the most agreeable to the stomach.
20. By this process may fixed air be given to wine,
beer, and almost any liquor whatever: and when beer is become flat or
dead, it will be revived by this means; but the delicate agreeable
flavour, or acidulous taste communicated by the fixed air, and which is
manifest in water, will hardly be [p.17] perceived in wine, or other liquors which have much taste of their own.
21. I would not interfere with the province of the
physician, bit I cannot intirely satisfy myself without taking this
opportunity to suggest such hints as have occurred to myself, or my
friends, with respect to the medicinal uses of water impregnated with fixed air; and also of fixed air in other applications.
In general, the diseases in which water impregnated
with fixed air will most probably be serviceable, are those of a putrid nature, of which kind is sea-scurvy.
It can hardly be doubted, also, but that this water must have all the
medicinal virtues of Pyrmont water, and some other mineral waters
similar to it, whatever they be; especially if a few iron filings be
put to it, to render it a chalybeate, like genuine Pyrmont water. It is
possible, however, that in some cases, it may be desirable to have the fixed air of Pyrmont water, without the iron which it contains.
[p.18] Having this opportunity, I shall also hint the application of fixed air in the form of clysters3,
which it occurred to me while I was attending to this subject, as what
promises to be useful to correct putrefaction in the intestinal canal,
and other parts of the system to which it may, by this channel be
conveyed. It has been tried once by Mr. Hey above-mentioned and the
recovery of the patient from an alarming putrid fever, when the stools
were become black, hot, and very fetid, was so circumstanced, that it
is not improbable but that it might be owing, in some measure, to those
clysters. The application, however, appeared to be perfectly easy and
safe.
Being satisfied that fixed air in not noxious per se,
any more than heat, I hinted to some physicians of eminence among my
acquaintance, that it might possibly be of use in the case of ulcerated lungs,
if persons in that most deplorable situation would breathe as much as
they found they could do of it, by holding their heads over vessels
containing fermented mixtures, especially if, at the same time, they
should [p.19] drink water, or other
liquors impregnated with the same principle. Those gentlemen were
pleased to think favorably of the proposal, and I am informed that the
same ideas had occurred to other persons, and that in three cases in
which the breathing of fixed air had been tried, it appeared to have
been of great service. One patient intirely recovered. The method in
which it was applied was putting chalk into oil of vitriol diluted with
water, and breathing the fumes as they issued from the orifice of a
funnel, which covered the vessel that contained the mixture.
Dr. Percival also informs me, that the sanies4of cancers
has been much sweetened by the application of fixed air, the pain
mitigated, and a better digestion produced, so that a cure is almost
expected. The cases are under the direction of a very able surgeon, who
will, I doubt not, in due time, give the public a complete account of
them. The same person has more than one directed patients laboring
under an ulcerous sore throat to receive this air from [p.20] a mixture of salt of wormwood5 and juice of lemons, and the trial has been attended without inconvenience, and with manifest advantage.
I cannot help thinking that fixed air might be
applied externally to good advantage in other cases of a putrid nature,
even when the whole system was affected. There would be no difficulty
in placing the body so that the greatest part of its surface should be
exposed to this kind of air; and if a piece of putrid flesh will become
firm and and sweet in that situation, as Dr. Macbride found, some
advantage, I should think, might be expected from the same antiseptic
application, assisted by the vis vitæ6,
operating internally, to counteract the same putrid tendency. Some
Indians, I have been informed, bury their patients, labouring under
putrid diseases, up to the chin in fresh mold, which is also known to
take off the fœtor7
from flesh meat beginning to putrify. If this practice be of any use,
may it may not be owing to the fixed air imbibed by the pores of the
skin in that situation? Following the plow is also an old [p.21]
prescription for a consumption, as also is living near lime kilns.
There is often some good reason for very old and long continued
practices, though it is frequently a long time before it be discovered,
and the rationale of them satisfactorily explained.
Being no physician, I run no risque by throwing out
these random hints and conjectures. I shall think myself happy if
any of them should be the means of making those persons whom they
immediately concern, attend more particularly to the subject. My friend
Dr. Percival has for some time been employed in making experiments on
fixed air, and he is particularly attentive to the medicinal uses of
it; and from his knowledge as a philosopher, and skill in his
profession, I have very considerable expectations.
P O S T S C R I P T
IN large vessels containing liquors in a state of fermentation, as at a
public brewery or distillery, fixed air may be found in great
plenty ready made, and if [p.22] water
be poured from one vessel into another, held as near as possible to the
surface of the fermenting liquor (by means of long handles) for about
four or five minutes, it will acquire the acidulous taste of Pyrmont
water; but as, in this case, the surface of the fixed air is exposed to
the common air, and is considerably mixed with it, water will not
imbibe so much of it by the process above described. The going out of a
candle will be an easy method of ascertaining whether the fermentation
be sufficiently advanced for this purpose.
F I N I S.
[bottom p.10] N.B.
If the pipe be made of leather it will generally be necessary to steep
it in water about half an hour before it is used, in order to make it
sufficiently air-tight.
The following explanatory footnotes were not part of Priestley's pamphlet.
1. oil of vitriol: sulphuric acid. ^
2. chalybeate:
n. a chalybeate medicine or spring; adj. Impregnated or flavoured with
iron, esp. as a mineral water or spring; relating to such waters or
preparations. ^
3. clyster: a medicine injected into the rectum, to empty or cleanse the bowels, to afford nutrition, etc.; an injection, enema. ^
4. sanies: a thin fetid pus mixed with serum or blood, secreted by a wound or ulcer. ^
5. salt of wormwood: an impure carbonate of potash, obtained from the ashes of wormwood. ^
6. vis vitæ: (Latin) vital force. ^
7. fœtor: an offensive smell; a stench. ^
8. Tinctura Martis cum spiritu sali
translates literally as "Tincture of Mars with spirit of salt," and is
a pharmaceutical preparation from iron filings dissolved
in spirit of salt (hydrochloric acid). Also known as Tincture of Sesquichloride of Iron. ^
Certain words in the original text were spelled in an archaic form,
and have been left unchanged in the text as transcribed above:
bason (basin), syphon (siphon), chymical (chemical), compleatly
(completely), chuse (choose), intirely (entirely), risque (risk).
The popular modern spa resort of Bad Pyrmont is located on the River Emmer, a
city now in the district of Hamelin-Pyrmont, in northern Germany, about
10 km west of the Weser. It was a resort as early as the
fourteenth century.
Phyllis May Hembry writes in The English Spa that
the mineral water of Pyrmont was a favorite of the Hanoverian George I,
who acceded to the British throne in 1714. By 1717, Sir Isaac Newton,
president of the Royal Society together with Dr John Bateman,
president of the Royal College of Physicians, diplomatically commended
the Pyrmont water. A Fleet Street druggist, Mr Burges, imported
to London large quantities of bottled Pyrmont water, which increased in
popularity. By 1730, the year's sales included 64,375 three-pint
bottles and 7,702 larger ones.
See also:
- Today in Science History event description for birth of Joseph Priestley on 13 Mar 1733.
