342 On the Chemical Evidence 



the steam-bill had been filled with oil vapour he should not be 

 surprised if it did inflame," because he must have known it to 

 be impossible to fill such an area as the steam-bin with oil- 

 vapour, as it condenses on coming into a cooler medium, and 

 is no longer vapour. The statement was likely to mislead and 

 prejudice the jury. What he could mean by saying that 

 " during the boiling the temperature was 460°," I cannot under- 

 stand, if it was whale-oil that he was operating upon, as such oil 

 does not boil until it be heated to many degrees beyond 600. 

 On the oil being driven through the pipe until it struck the 

 ceiling much might be said, if I were not afraid of exceeding 

 my prescribed limits ; but I must observe, that I cannot con- 

 ceive how the expansion of the vapour could throw out the oil ; 

 for, if the vessel could not hold the vapour and the oil, the na- 

 tural consequence would have been for the vapour to escape 

 through the tube, and not the oil ; there is, however, reason to 

 believe that the vessel was nearly full when they began the ex- 

 periment, and the sudden accession of heat occasioned such an. 

 expansion in the oil itself, that the vessel was incapable of con- 

 taining it, and then there can be no wonder that it was ex- 

 pelled with force through the pipe. I have found by direct 

 experiment, that whale-oil expands more than one-fifth in being- 

 heated from 58° to 460°. The silent explosion which this 

 witness spoke of, I cannot at all comprehend ; for explosions 

 without noise, appear to me to be as absurd as to talk of musip 

 without sound, or fragrance without smell. 



One word more respecting the construction of the experi- 

 mental apparatus employed by Mr. Faraday and his friends. 

 The boiler, he says, " was not enclosed ; it sides were left bare 

 to the air, and there were crevices between the boiler and the 

 fire." How unlike this to the real apparatus which it was in- 

 tended to represent ! and how can we wonder, when the vessel 

 had been filled without a due regard to the expansion which the 

 oil would experience, and the oil spouted up to the ceiling in 

 consequence thereof, that the persons who were collected to 

 witness the experiment, and saw the fire greatly increased by 

 the oil running into it, down the sides of the vessel, should have 



