The Cecil Whig

What will a glass of water hold? - It is generally thought that when a vessel is full of water, any solid substance immersed in it will cause its overflow, and such will be the case if the substance is not soluble in the water; but the philosophical truth, that in dissolving a body you do not increase the volume of the solvent, may be proved by a simple and interesting experiment. Saturate a certain quantity of water, at a moderate heat, with three ounces of sugar: and when it will no longer receive that, there is room in it for two ounces of salt of tartar, and after that for an ounce and a dram of green vitriol, nearly six drams of nitre, the same quantity of sal ammoniac or smelling salts, two drams and a scruple of alum and a half of borax—when all these are dissolved in it, it will not have increased in volume. Scientific American.