144 Mr Weston's Experitnents on Bottles immersed 



Art. XXI. — Experiments on the penetration of water into 

 Bottles immersed to a great depth in the sea^ made in a Voy- 

 age from India to England. By Charles H. Weston, 

 Esq. In a Letter to the Editor. 



Sir, London^ 6th October 1828. 



Under the article " General Science"" in your last Quarterly 

 Journal, you detailed some experiments made by Dr J. Green, 

 which tended to prove that glass- vessels were impervious to 

 water, although submitted to very considerable pressure. As 

 T had during my voyage from India to England directed my 

 attention to the same subject, I am induced to state to you a 

 few of my experiments, which, although insignificant and un- 

 satisfactory in themselves, do, when viewed in connection with 

 those of Dr Green, afford a collateral proof of the justness of 

 his conclusions. 



The bottles made use of were of white flint-glass with 

 ground glass-stoppers, round which, at the point of contact 

 with the bottle, a quantity of putty was placed, and, embracing 

 both lute and stopper, some linen was fastened, which prevent- 

 ed a removal of the lute during the descent of the bottle- 

 This I found a simple but effectual mode of rendering bottles 

 water tight, as the putty, independent of its oily nature, suffers 

 a very considerable condensation by the pressure of the super- 

 incumbent water. 



Some bottles were lowered to twenty fathoms, drawn up 

 and examined, and again lowered an additional ten fathoms, 

 and so on. Others were attached to the line at different dis- 

 tances, and four or five bottles were thus at the same time sub- 

 mitted to various degrees of pressure. 



It will be necessary to detail the fate of a few bottles only. 



Two bottles were sent to thirty fathoms depth, inclosed in 

 a fine netting to receive the pieces in case of fracture. They 

 were not only destroyed, but the minute state of division ot a 

 great part of the glass was such as to give one the idea of its 

 having been literally pounded. 



Hollow glass-stoppers were most used, and, as they were 

 beyond all suspicion hermetically closed, they were submitted 



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