time to reach the earth! If the rays bad not yet reached the eye, neither could they the telescope; no perception could possibly take place till the ray should touch the retina; but the rays of light of those stars that are invisible to the naked eye, we may rest assured never will be visible, even were we to wait a million of ages for the event, whereas, if the opposite hypothesis were entertained, the new arrivals of particles of light on the confines of our system from stars in the vast expanse, travelling ever since their creation at the rate of eight times round the earth in a second of time, would give new employment to astronomers to announce the daily appearance of these new suns to the world.

The next article of our creed is, that if light were a fluid per se, its effects could not be propagated in right lines. This observation could only arise from an ignorance of that fluid; the heads of the theorists were pre-occupied with that terrible enemy of common sense, a

vacuum.

"Again, a continual emission of matter from the sun may very easily be allowed, seeing that only 10 feet thick has escaped from his body in 6000 years." What a clumsy apology for the Diety, that he had made the sun to rule the day, to give light and heat to animate the world, and that these sage philosophers have discovered that it is wearing out, and in time will become totally extinct.

The last article is, that there is no physical point in the visible horizon that does not send rays to every other point, and that light in passing from one system to another has to encounter torrents of light issuing from other suns, and other systems, which is all very easily accomplished by nature, after she has dispatched one ray, waiting until it has travelled 20,000 miles before another is dispatched

after it, (What can propel them with this force and regularity? )and that the expansion or extension of light is inconceivable,and as unlimited as the universe, whether it is émitted from the sun, or a spark struck from a flint and steel. So that all the lights that ever were lighted since the creaation of the world are still in existence, darting through space in right lines at the rate of 8 times round the world in a second; and the force of light, we are also taught, to be equivalent to an iron shot a quarter of an inch in diameter, moving at the rate of one mile in three weeks. Really, the best answer that can be given to these profound conceits is, notes of admiration, in three times three!!! !!! !!!

(To be concluded in our next.)

To the Editor of the London Journal of Arts, &c.

OIL AND COAL GAS.

As I do not consider the coal gas companies by any means entitled to reap the fruits of my labours and enquiries into the secrets, &c. of the several oil gas works, it is my intention to defer any further exposé of them until the present Oil Gas Bill shall be decided. Indeed, I should not have published the Bow affair, in your last number, bad I not been urged to it by a consummate piece of effrontery, on the part of Mr. Taylor, in declaring before a Committee of the House of Commons, on the 17th of March last,that the affairs ofthe Oil Gas Works at Bow had been “abominably and shamefully mismanaged!” This, from him, did provoke the disclosure, which I dare him to deny and which you must allow his declaration fully merited.

Your's, &c.

A. H.

Mr. PERKINS has, we understand, at length demonstrated the power of his engine to a select party of friends, by lifting a given column of water through a certain space; but we have none of the particulars relative to the experiment, and therefore decline making any further remarks upon the engine until our own personal observations enable us to state such facts as will be conclusive. We mention the invention, however, at present, for the purpose of introducing a pamphlet which Mr. Perkins's is now circulating gratuitously among his friends, and as it contains several novel and interesting scientific facts, we shall present our readers with a short abstract of its contents.

**The preface, which is comprised in a very few lines, informs us that the object of the work is to state principally the new practical rather than the philosophical facts which have transpired while experimenting on the New SteamEngine of which it treats. "My apology," (says Mr. P.) "for coming before the public at so early a stage of the invention is, that as facts are the ground work of theories, they are of the greater importance; and as much time will necessarily be absorbed in giving a theory properly tested by experiment, I have considered that the practical part of the community, at least, would not be displeased by my laying before them the results which have been already unfolded, with a promise that a supplement shall follow, as soon as time will allow."

Mr. P. states, that having many years since witnessed some facts relative to steam of high expansive force, as employed by the late Mr. Oliver Evans, he was satisfied that making use of steam merely to form a vacuum, for the purpose of using atmospheric pressure, was not taking all the advantage which that extraordinary agent possessed. When he reflected upon the almost infinite power that is sometimes displayed in the eruptions of Mount Vesuvius, throwing up incalculable masses of matter into the very clouds, he was induced to consider how this immense power could be generated. "How is it that this power is so wonderfully great? Is it not high elastic steam?" The thought struck him that it must, arise from the water being confined by pressure until it became sufficiently charged with heat to enable it to rend asunder whatever confined it, thereby driving every thing before it. The tremendous power of steam is frequently rendered evident in Iron Foundries: if by accident a drop of water has found its way into the mould, the steam there generated has sometimes caused an explosion that scattered the fluid -metal in a shower to a considerable distance, and every carried it through the roof of the foundry; yet a thousand times that quantity of water thrown upon the heated metal

1

this

would be perfectly harmless. angos vady long, con szed From the very great interest which is excited in country relative to steam-engines, Mr. P. was induced, soon after he came to England, to turn his attention to the subject, and at first intended to follow up the ideas of Mr. Evans, relative to high pressure, and to do that which the imperfections of workmanship in America had prevented Mr. E. from accomplishing, being fully convinced that the exertion of power in the steam increased in a very different ratio to the quantity of fuel consumed. This being the case, it became evident that the higher the steam the

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greater the economy of fuel. But in pursuing the subject it occurred to Mr. P. that much of the conducting power was lost by steam being formed at the bottom of the boiler, which is the case when ebullition begins; and it frequently happens that the ebullition is so great as to form one sheet of steam at the bottom of the boiler, which bottom becomes red hot, and instead of giving off its heat to the water, is suffered to escape by radiation. To prevent ebullition, therefore, and compel the water to take up the heat, seemed desirable, and this was only to be accomplished by pressure, that is, by confining the column of water within a close vessel, in the manner described in Mr. P.'s Specification. (See Vol. VI. of this Journal, page 1.)

Another very considerable loss of heat is sustained by the condensing apparatus commonly employed, in which out of 1170 degrees of heat absorbed in generating the steam, 1070 is absolutely lost by entering into the condensing water. To arrest as much of this heat as possible was the next object of Mr. P., and in effecting this much time has been expended, and many experiments have become necessary, though finally so complete has been the success of the experimentalist, that nearly "all the heat has been absorbed from the steam and returned to the generator." The mode by which this has been effected, is described under the fifth head of Mr. P.'s Specification, page 1, of our present Vol.

There is also more loss of heat occasioned by the common mode of supplying air to the furnace than is generally supposed. To prevent the escape of heat up the chimney, which necessarily takes place when combustion is effected by draft, Mr. P. has adopted a plan for "forcing the air into the furnace, which is so constructed as to have the air pass over its heated surface, thereby taking with it the radiant heat." This mode of forcing the air in at the top