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44 THE BOOK OF THE LANTERN. short time ago in an article in " Chambers's Journal." From that article I will now give the following extract:— " Any manual of chemistry will inform us that oxygen is the most widely-diffused element in nature. It enters into the composition of air, of water; it is found in nearly all earths and rocks; and forms more than one half of animal and plant life. In fact it is not too much to say that oxygen forms one-half of the globe and its belongings ; but of course it is combined with other elements. Chemists can tell us of a dozen different methods of isolating this gas ; but the one most usually adopted is to'subject a salt of potash (potassic chlorate), which is extremely rich in oxygen, to heat in a retort, when it quickly parts with that gas, which can be collected in a suitable containing vessel for use. To show the extent to which this salt is used for the production of oxygen, we may mention that we were lately informed by a London dealer that he sold yearly one hundred tons of potassic chlorate, and that he had reason to believe that it was nearly all used for the production of gas. This quantity of the salt would afford, roughly speaking, nine hundred thousand cubic feet of oxygen, and we must not forget that this is the amount dispensed through one dealer only. The natural question which arises as to what purposes this gas is applied, we shall deal with presently. We have preferred to show, first, that there is an enormous demand for oxygen, so that the importance of a new industry for producing it may be at once appreciated. " Oxygen forms one-fifth of the air which we breathe, the other four-fifths consisting of an inert gas called nitrogen. And it is important that we should remember that the