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WATER.
37
by
each
and
every
distillation,
but
that
only
a
part
of
the
suspended
earth
was
precipitated,
while
the
greater
part
of
it
was
distilled
over;
that
by
continuous
distil-
lation
it
would
be
possible
to
precipitate
more
and
more
of
the
suspended
earth,
but
that
the
same
result
could
not
be
obtained with
the
entire
quantity.
It
was
Lavoisier
who
proved
the
true
origin
of
this
much-disputed
earth;
the
report
of
his
experiments
in
this
direction
is
contained
in
the
annals
of
the
Academy
of
Paris
for
the
year
1770.
He
showed
beyond
any
doubt,
that
water,
even
after
long
boiling
in
glass
ves-
sels,
was
not
transformed
into
earth,
but
that
the
earth
which
was
found
therein
after
boiling
owed
its
exist-
ence
to
the
glass
vessel.
The
opinion
that
water
was
an
element
was
main-
tained
to
the
close
of
the
eighteenth
century.
Cavendish
first,
in
the
year
1781,
saw
that
water
was
produced
when
hydrogen
was
burned
in
the
flame
of
oxygen.
In
1783
Watt
expressed
the
opinion
that
water
consisted
of
oxygen
and
phlogiston,
by
which
name
he
very
likely
meant
hydrogen.
The
undoubted
proof
for
the
water's
composition
of
oxygen
and
hydro-
gen
was
given
by
the
great
Lavoisier
in
the
same
year;
the
quantitative
analysis
was
first
determined
by
Gay-
Lussac,
and
Humboldt
in
the
year
1805.
By
numerous
exact
experiments
it
is
shown
that
water
contains
one
volume
of
oxygen
and
two
volumes
of
hydrogen,
or,
to
express
the
same
fact
in
weight,
it
consists
of
eight
parts of
oxygen
and
one
part
of
hydrogen.