given on a late Trial, 337 



stronger ; that he had seen oil boiling in large quantities at 

 Hull ; there were at least five or six tons, and that the propri- 

 etor put a lighted paper to the surface, for the purpose of shew- 

 ing the experiment, and it would not take fire/' 



Mr. Samuel Parkes was then recalled^ and examined as 

 to the nature of explosive mixtures. 



Timothy Bramah, Esq., was the last witness called in be- 

 half of the plaintiffs, in this stage of the trial; who was capable 

 of giving a chemical opinion ; and he stated as follows : — " 1 

 have," said he, " made the experiment mentioned by Mr. Hen- 

 drie of heating oil over an Argand lamp, and I gave it up be- 

 cause I could not bring the oil to the desired heat ; for, having 

 got it to a certain degree, the thermometer became perfectly 

 stationary. I tried the experiment again in another way, and 

 the plate underneath the apparatus melted, and I gave it up." 

 He added, ** I have seen the operation of boiling sugar on a 

 large scale by means of this apparatus, a year and a half ago ; 

 and I think, for the reasons already adduced, it is much less 

 dangerous than the former plan." 



On the Second Day, evidence for the Defendants was 

 called, and the first person who spoke on the chemical part of 

 the subject was Samuel Wilkinson, who said he was fore- 

 man to Messrs. Taylors and Martineau, chemists and engineers. 

 The following is a brief account of the most material parts of 

 his testimony. " I received orders," said he, " from Mr. John 

 Taylor, to make experiments on oil. The vessel I used was 

 three feet long, fifteen inches wide, and fifteen inches deep, 

 made of wrought-iron united by rivets. Mr. Martineau tried this 

 boiler with a small quantity of common whale-oil, which he boiled 

 in it on the Saturday afternoon, the 13th of February. On the 

 15th, Mr. John Taylor ordered me to add a quantity of oil to 

 the oil Mr. Martineau had boiled ; and I added sufficient to 

 make the whole between twenty and thirty gallons, with the 

 design of ascertaining (for Mr. Taylor wished to know) 



