Chapter V: Part I: Experiments and Observations made in, and before the year 1772

In writing upon the subject of _different kinds of air_, I find myself at a loss for proper _terms_, by which to distinguish them, those which have hitherto obtained being by no means sufficiently characteristic, or distinct. The only terms in common use are, _fixed air_, _mephitic_, and _inflammable_. The last, indeed, sufficiently characterizes and distinguishes that kind of air which takes fire, and explodes on the approach of flame; but it might have been termed _fixed_ with as much propriety as that to which Dr. Black and others have given that denomination, since it is originally part of some solid substance, and exists in an unelastic state.

All these newly discovered kinds of air may also be called _factitious_; and if, with others, we use the term _fixable_, it is still obvious to remark, that it is applicable to them all; since they are all capable of being imbibed by some substance or other, and consequently of being _fixed_ in them, after they have been in an elastic state.

The term _mephitic_ is equally applicable to what is called _fixed air_, to that which is _inflammable_, and to many other kinds; since they are equally noxious, when breathed by animals. Rather, however, than either introduce new terms, or change the signification of old ones, I shall use the term _fixed air_, in the sense in which it is now commonly used, and distinguish the other kinds by their properties, or some other periphrasis. I shall be under a necessity, however, of giving names to those kinds of air, to which no names had been given by others, as _nitrous_, _acid_, and _alkaline_.