18^1.] Dr, Bostock on Whale Oil. 49 



which I now refer, generally took place at abotit 580°:* it 

 appeared to consist in the vaporization of the residual fluid in 

 the boiler ; but it was not strictly entitled to the appellation of 

 boiling, because it does not appear that by condensing the vapour, 

 a fluid could be reproduced similar to that from which it wa» 

 procured. 



The above observations are to be regarded as matters of fact, 

 independent of hypothesis; but it is impossible to contemplate 

 the phenomena without speculating upon the changes which the 

 oil may be supposed to have undergone by the long continued 

 action of heat upon it. We may conceive that during this ope- 

 ration the elements of the oil act upon each other, and that the 

 fluid is converted into an heterogeneous compound ; that the 

 first new product is a substance containing a larger proportion 

 of hydrogen, and constituting a highly volatile oil, . capable of 

 being brought to the aeriform state by a comparatively low 

 temperature. The next accession of heat seems to be attended 

 with the production of water, which is emitted along with the 

 vapour of the volatile oil ; while at length, by a further increase 

 of temperature, the substance remaining in the boiler, now 

 deprived of a considerable proportion of its oxygen and hydro- 

 gen, gives rise to a highly inflammable pungent vapour, compa- 

 ratively free from water, but accompanied by a considerable 

 proportion of acid. Although the experiments seem to prove 

 that at least a small quantity of the volatile oil is capable of being 

 generated at the temperature of 360°, yet it is probable that the 

 chief effect of this temperature is to produce a change in the 

 oil, which may dispose it to the production of the volatile mat- 

 ter at a somewhat greater heat, the mode in which the heat is 

 applied being, to a certain extent, more important than the 

 actual degree to which it is carried. 



It is unnecessary to remark that the facts which have been 

 observed, although, as I conceive, new and important, are to be 

 considered as constituting only the first step of an investigation, 

 which will probably lead to many curious results. In what 

 degree the phenomena depend upon any thing peculiar in the 

 nature of whale oil in its ordinary state of purity, or upon any 

 heterogeneous substance contained in it, is the first point that it 

 will be desirable to ascertain. In the next place it will be 

 important to watch the gradual progression by which the oil has 

 its physical and chemical properties so much changed, and to 

 discover at what degree, or after what period of time, the maxi- 



* In one of our experiments a species of ebullition occurred at a much lower tem- 

 perature, about 460°, the fluid being violently projected in considerable jets from the 

 vent pipe to the height of nine feet or more, when the surface of the oil was about five 

 inches below the cover of the boiler, and the orifice of the vent pipe screwed into it. 

 We were, however, induced to regard this as not the result of the rapid volatilization 

 of the entire fluid, but as depending upon the more volatile part of it bemg suddenly 

 converted into vapour, which, intimately mixing with th« viscid mass, forced a portion 

 of it out of the tube. 



'New Series, vol, i. d 



