Account of a new Kind of inflammable Air or Gass, which can be made in a Moment without Apparatus, and is fit for Explosion as other inflammable Gasses in use for that Purpose; together with a new Theory of Gun-Powder. Read March 25, 1779, pp. 376-418 and 1 plate in: Philosophical Transactions, Vol. 69, for the year 1779

INGEN-HOUSZ (INGENHOUSZ), Jan

Published by London: Lockyer Davis, 1779

First edition, complete journal volume, containing this memoir in which Ingenhousz demonstrates a new way to make 'inflammable air' and its use to make a 'chemical pistol'. Ingenhousz is best known today for his discovery of photosynthesis, which he published in the same year as the offered paper. "Ingen-Housz's interest in photosynthesis may well have derived from his interest in the chemistry of gases. He was especially interested in 'inflammable air,' at the time the name for combustible gases. He experimented with explosive gas mixtures and used a mixture of air and ethyl ether vapor as the propellant for a pistol, which was fired electrically" (DSB). In the present memoir, Ingenhousz "reported on some curious experiments he attended in November 1777 in Amsterdam where Aeneae and Cuthbertson demonstrated explosive and inflammable airs of different kinds. They had developed a sort of pistol that could fire a bullet into an oak board by exploding a mixture of common and inflammable air detonated by an electrical spark. This was based on an invention by Alessandro Volta after experiments with flammable air (methane) from marshes in 1776. When Ingenhousz arrived in London in January he pursued some ideas on how to produce amounts of explosive gas to fire this 'chemical pistol' reliably. The use of 'vitriolic aether' turned out to be rather useful, despite its volatility, concluding 'the ready production of such inflammable air always ready for use, when an explosion is intended to be produced, may be of some importance to philosophers' . . . In an appendix he described how he, assisted by Fontana, mixed dephlogisticated air with inflammable air which produced loud explosions when ignited by a flame" (Magiels, From Sunlight to Insight: Jan IngenHousz, the Discovery of Photosynthesis & Science in the Light of Ecology (2010), p. 60). 4to, pp. vii, 696, [1], with 11 plates. Contemporary calf (worn, joints split but holding). Very good condition internally. Probably a large paper copy. Seller Inventory # ABE-1608419728643

Bibliographic Details

Title: Account of a new Kind of inflammable Air or ...
Publisher: London: Lockyer Davis
Publication Date: 1779
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Very Good
Edition: 1st Edition