XVIII. On the application of liquids formed by the condensation of gases as mechanical agents

Extract

One of the principal objects that I had in view, in causing experiments to be made on the condensation of different gaseous bodies, by generating them under pressure, was the hope of obtaining vapours, which, from the facility with which their elastic forces might be diminished or increased, by small decrements or increments of temperature, would be applicable to the same purposes as steam. As soon as I had obtained muriatic acid in the liquid state, a body which M. Berthollet supposed owed its power of being separated from bases by other acids, only to the facility with which it assumes the gaseous form, I had no doubt, as I mentioned in my last communication, that all the other gases which have weaker affinities or greater densities, and which are absorbable to any extent by water, might be rendered fluid by similar means; and, that the conjecture was founded, has been proved by the experiments made with so much industry and ingenuity by Mr. Faraday, and which I have had the pleasure of communicating to the Society.