The works of the Honourable Robert Boyle, Esq., epitomiz'd by Richard Boulton ... ; illustrated with copper plates.

About this Item

Title: The works of the Honourable Robert Boyle, Esq., epitomiz'd by Richard Boulton ... ; illustrated with copper plates.
Author: Boyle, Robert, 1627-1691.
Publication: London :: Printed for J. Phillips ... and J. Taylor ...,; 1699-1700.
Rights/Permissions: This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. Searching, reading, printing, or downloading EEBO-TCP texts is reserved for the authorized users of these project partner institutions. Permission must be granted for subsequent distribution, in print or electronically, of this text, in whole or in part. Please contact project staff at eebotcp-info@umich.edu for further information or permissions.
Subject terms: Physics -- Early works to 1800.; Chemistry -- Early works to 1800.; Medicine -- 15th-18th centuries.
Link to this Item: http://name.umdl.umich.edu/A28936.0001.001
Cite this Item: "The works of the Honourable Robert Boyle, Esq., epitomiz'd by Richard Boulton ... ; illustrated with copper plates." In the digital collection Early English Books Online 2. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/A28936.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed June 14, 2024.

Pages

Page 454

EXPERIMENT XIV. The different Heights to which the Liquors may be elevated by Suction, accordingly as their Specifick Gravity varies.

* 1.1FROM Experiments already laid down, it ap∣pearing to what Height Mercury may be rais'd in a Tube; we may guess at what Height Water might be suspended, by considering that it is 14 times lighter than the former. But to be further satisfy'd, I caus'd a small Pipe, which branched it self into two (see Plate the 5^th Fig. the 3^d) So that a Cylinder being fix'd to each Branch, the Liquors contain'd in the Vessels, in which the lower End of the Pipe was immers'd, would rise proportionably as their Specifick Gra∣vity enabl'd them to resist the Pressure of the At∣mosphere; which being done, and the Pump set on work, Water rose in one of the Cylinders to 42 Inches, and the Mercury in the other Tube not above 3 Inches; so that the Water was fourteen times higher than the Mercury. And to make the Experiment more satisfactory, we let Air into the Receiver, till the Water subsided to fourteen Inches, and at the same time the Mercury was sunk to about an Inch; for in this Experiment it was observ'd, That the Proportion was not so exact as 1 to 14 precisely Specifies, but there∣abouts.

From this Experiment, we may draw Argu∣ments, not only against what is taught con∣cerning Nature's Abhorrency of a Vacuum; but it may likewise more nicely inform us of the

Page 455

Specifick Gravity of Liquors: For having put into one of the Vessels, under the Glass Tubes, Fresh Water, and into the other Salt Water; when the Fresh Water rose to 42 Inches, the Salt Wa∣ter was but 40 Inches high. But having made use of a Brine, made of Sea-salt, melted in the Air, instead of Salt Water, when the Fresh Wa∣ter was rais'd to 42 Inches, the Brine did not exceed seven. I likewise put into one of the Vessels, when this Experiment was over, a Solu∣tion of Pot-ashes, and Common Water into the other, and when the Water rose to 42 Inches, the Solution was rais'd but to 30.

Notes

* 1.1

See Plate the Fifth, Fig. the Third.

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