316 CRITICAL NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. ' 



On their appointment, in 1830, the Committee addressed letters 

 to persons whom they supposed might furnish information in regard 

 to the subject before them, and have published the replies in the same 

 Journal in which their reports first appeared.* At the request of 

 the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, they also under- 

 took two series of experiments ; the first intended to test the truth of 

 the various causes which have been assigned for the explosions of 

 steam boilers, and the second to determine the strength of the mate- 

 rials commonly used in their construction. The first-named series of 

 experiments being that upon which the general report of the Com- 

 mittee is based, was publishedt next in order to the replies to their 

 letters, and we were thus furnished with the means of judging, inde- 

 pendently of the authority of the Committee, of the accuracy of the 

 conclusions in their General Report. The second series of experi- 

 ments is now in the course of publication. :j: 



We propose, in the following article, to give as full a view as the 

 nature of our journal will admit of the General Report of this Com- 

 mittee, and of their experiments, inverting for this purpose the " in- 

 ductive" order, and following the discussion of the causes of explosion 

 as enumerated by the Committee, in their General Report, referring 

 to the experiments as the subjects of them came under discussion. 



1st. Explosions may occur from undue pressure within a boiler, 

 the pressure being gradually increased. 



It would seem that there could be no difference of opinion as to 

 these being a " vera causa.'' Engineers have, however, alleged that 

 boilers, particularly if made of copper, only rend by a gradually in- 

 creased pressure, and thus discharge their contents without danger- 

 ous violence. A most dangerous maxim is stated, in this Report, to 



works are under discussion, are, or were, Professors of Natural Philosophy 

 or of Chemistry. Four other members we find, from the same source, to be 

 practical mechanics. One other has written much on Mechanics. We are 

 thus left in doubt as to the professions of but four, out of seventeen, of the 

 Committee. 



* Journal of the Franklin Institute, vols, viii., ix., x. 



f Journal of the Franklin Institute, vol. xvii., and London Mechanics' Ma- 

 gazine. The first and second parts of this Report have been printed in a se- 

 parate form by the Franklin Institute, and kindly presented to several of 

 our scientific societies. 



X Both series of experiments were made by sub-committees, whose names 

 are given in the Preface to the Report. On neither of them do we find the 

 name of Professor Hare, who is vauntingly said by our cotemporary before 

 noticed, in his attempt to discredit this Report, to have " openly stated that 

 he never attended a single experiment." We do not intend to fatigue our 

 readers by following the disingenuous criticisms of our anonymous friend in 

 detail, considering, as we do, his review to be discreditable to a journal pro- 

 fiessing to give information upon science. It is the more objectionable be- 

 cause interspersed with general epithets of approbation, which are totally 

 misapplied if the individual criticisms are in the least warranted. Besides 

 perversions of fact, we have, in his review, such language as this : — " Presi- 

 dent Jackson and some of liis fellow citizens down east ,-" — " There must be 

 a district in Pennsylvania where the shamrock is worn!" &c. 



