Literary notes about gaseous (AI summary)
The word "gaseous" has been employed in literature to convey both scientific precision and evocative metaphor. In some works, authors use it in a technical sense, describing physical processes such as the transformation of fluids under reduced pressure [1] or detailing specific chemical treatments like the use of gaseous nitrogen dioxide in coffee production [2]. In contrast, other texts adopt a more symbolic approach: Poe, for instance, speaks of an "impalpable gaseous character" as a metaphor for the elusive fulfillment of fate [3], while Hawthorne and Wells integrate the term to portray elements of the natural world, infusing their descriptions with both literal and figurative meaning [4, 5, 6]. Even in the realm of adventure and innovation, as seen in Verne’s vivid accounts of explosive gaseous vapors and discharges [7, 8], or Joyce’s playful use referring to a “gaseous vertebrate” [9], the word transcends its scientific roots to enrich the narrative with layered interpretations.
- The fluid tends towards the gaseous state, into which it passes at once as soon as all pressure is removed from it.
— from The World as Will and Idea (Vol. 1 of 3) by Arthur Schopenhauer - A process that is probably attended with more commercial success is that of Gram [114] in which the coffee is treated with gaseous nitrogen dioxid.
— from All About Coffee by William H. Ukers - In its impalpable gaseous character we clearly perceived the consummation of Fate.
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition by Edgar Allan Poe - A like uniformity is also persistent in the nature of the earthy, metallic, and gaseous substances with which they are impregnated.
— from The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne - It is also ascertained that all the substances with which hot springs are impregnated agree with those discharged in a gaseous form from volcanoes.
— from The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells - The atmosphere felt oppressively close, and was tainted with gaseous odors which had been tormented forth by the processes of science.
— from Mosses from an old manse by Nathaniel Hawthorne - The explosion of some gaseous vapors, or the fall of some solid, of the granitic or other rock.
— from A Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne - "That," he told me, "is a gaseous discharge caused by our use of sodium, but it's only a mild inconvenience.
— from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas: An Underwater Tour of the World by Jules Verne - —You were speaking of the gaseous vertebrate, if I mistake not?
— from Ulysses by James Joyce
