nitrogen and one volume of oxygen. Consequently the composition of nitrous oxide is similar to that of water; two volumes of nitrogen and one volume of oxygen give two volumes of nitrous oxide. By decomposing ammonia it is found to be composed in such a manner that two volumes give one volume of nitrogen and three volumes of hydrogen; also two volumes of nitric oxide are formed by the union of one volume of oxygen with one volume of nitrogen. The same relations may be proved by calculation from the vapour densities, as was described above.
Comparisons of various results made by the aid of direct observations or calculation, an example of which has just been cited, led Gay-Lussac to the conclusion that the volume of a compound in a gaseous or vaporous state is always in simple multiple proportion to the volume of each of the component parts of which it is formed (and consequently to the sum of the volumes of the elements of which it is formed). This is the second law of Gay-Lussac; it extends the simplicity of the volumetric relations to compounds, and is of the same nature as that presented by the elements entering into mutual combination. Hence not only the substances forming a given compound,