Untitled

Otago Daily Times, Issue 1049, 1 May 1865, Page 5

A Nkw Fjice E.vriNGUi.siiKrt,—An apothecary at Nantes lias just disoove-el by the merest accident that ammonia will put out fires. He happened to have about 70 litres of Benzine in his cellar, and his boy, on going down carelessly with a light, had set fire to ic. Assistance was speeiily at hand, and pail after pail of water was being poured into the cellar without producing any effect, when the apothecary himself took up a pail which was standidg neglected in a corner, and emptied the contents into the cellar. To his astonishment the flames were quenched as if by magic, and upon examination ho found that the pail, which belonged to his laboratory, had contained a quantity of liquid ammonia. The result is easy to explain on scientific principles; for ammonia, which consists of 82 parts of nitrogen and IS of hydrogen, is easily decomposed by heat, and the nitrogen thus set free in the midst of a conflagration, must infallibly pat out the flames. A large supply of liquid ammonia, properly administered, would be" the promptest fire-extinguisher; ever imagined.—"Ga~ lignani." HEPHUK^ AM) CO,