Here (fig. 21) is a bulb, A, filled with air, the tube from which dips into some coloured liquid in the vessel B. And I dare say you know that if I put my hand on the bulb A, and warm it, the coloured liquid which is now standing in the tube at C will travel forward. Now we have discovered a means, by great care and research into the properties of various bodies, of preparing a solution of a salt[1] which, if shaken or disturbed, will at once become a solid; and as I explained to you just now (for what is true of water is true of every other liquid), by reason of its becoming solid, heat is evolved, and I can make this evident to you by pouring it over this bulb;—there! it is becoming solid, and look at the coloured liquid, how it is being driven down the tube, and how it is bubbling out through the water at the end; and so we learn this beautiful law of our philosophy, that whenever we diminish the attraction of cohesion, we absorb heat—and whenever we increase that attraction, heat is evolved. This, then, is a great step in advance, for you have learned a great deal in addition to the mere circumstance that particles attract
- ↑ Solution of a Salt.—Acetate of soda. A solution saturated, or nearly so, at the boiling point, is necessary, and it must be allowed to cool, and remain at rest until the experiment is made.
