This section is from the book "The Corner Cupboard; Or, Facts For Everybody", by Robert Kemp Philp. Also available from Amazon: The Corner Cupboard; or Facts for Everybody.
Air-Pump. A machine which operates on the air just as a common pump operates on water; and by means of which a considerable portion of the air under a glass receiver may be extracted, and a number of amusing and instructive experiments performed, by which the uses of atmospheric air are discovered, and many phenomena shown to arise from its action and reaction.

 
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