C H A P. VIII.
UNTIL very lately, water has always been thought a simple substance, insomuch that the older chemists considered it as an element. Such it undoubtedly was to them, as they were unable to decompose it; or, at least, since the decomposition which took place daily before their eyes was entirely unnoticed. But we mean to prove, that water is by no means a simple or elementary substance. I shall not here pretend to give the history of this recent, and hitherto contested discovery, which is detailed in the Memoirs of the Academy for 1781, but shall only bring forwards the principal proofs of the decomposition and composition of water; and, I may venture to say, that these will be convincing to such as consider them impartially.
Experiment First.
Having filled the glass tube EF,
(Pl. vii. fig. 11.) of from 8 to 12 lines diameter, across a furnace, with a small inclination from E to F,
