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deavoured to shew, page 46, that in all casesflame is a continued combustion of explosivemixtures ; it becomes, therefore, a problemof some interest, “ Why the combustion ofexplosive mixtures, under different circum-stances, should produce such different ap-pearances ?” A very acute philosopher, whohimself started the subject in conversation,suggested the idea, that in the combustionof explosive mixtures within the lamp, car-bonic oxide might be formed; and that thelight might be deficient, from the deficiencyof the quantity of oxygene necessary toproduce carbonic acid. On submitting thisidea to the test of experiment, it was dis-covered to be unfounded; for, by the com-bustion in the wire gauze lamp, carbonicacid was produced in quantities as greatas could have been expected from thequantity of oxygene consumed; and onadding oxygene to a mixture in quantitiesmore than sufficient to burn the whole ofthe gas, the character of the light still con-tinued the same.

In reflecting on the circumstances of thetwo species of combustion, I was led toimagine that the cause of the superiority of

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