OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. 129 



Professor Levering, in the absence of the chairman of the 

 Rumford Committee, read the following report on a commu- 

 nication of Mr, James Frost, which was referred to that com- 

 >mittee. 



" The Rumford Committee, having examined the paper submitted 

 by James Frost, Esq., of Brooklyn, New York, and entitled, ' De- 

 scription of the Causes of the Explosion of Steam-boilers, and of some 

 newly discovered Properties of Heat, and other Matters : for the Pur- 

 pose of showing that the Application of Steam for the Production of 

 Motive Force is susceptible both of immense Improvement and Econo- 

 my,' respectfully report : — 



" The chief points which the author claims to have established 

 are, — 



" 1st. That steam of 212° Fahr., heated, out of contact with water, 

 to 216°, doubles its volume ; and heated to 228°, increases its volume 

 threefold. 



"2d. That steam of low tension, heated to somewhere about 650°, 

 is converted into another body, which the author calls ' stame,' and 

 which, under favorable circumstances, becomes six times as effective 

 as steam not so heated. 



" As, in the view of the author, the question of discovery rests upon 

 the truth of the first of these two propositions, the attention of the 

 committee has been particularly directed to its consideration. To this 

 end, the apparatus employed by Gay-Lussac in his determinations of 

 the tension of aqueous vapor at different temperatures was construct- 

 ed, and a series of experiments made upon steam heated, out of con- 

 tact with water, from the boiling point to 233°. 6. The results arrived 

 at were as follow. 



" A volume of steam at 212° Fahr., measuring 15.80 cubic centi- 

 metres, or 1580 parts, heated to 216°, became 1600 parts, and heated 

 to 228°, became 1630 parts. According to Mr. Frost, 1580 parts at 

 212° should have become 3160 parts at 216°, and 4740 parts at 228°. 

 In tabular form we have, at 



Exp. Frost. Dif. 



212° 1580 1580 



216° 1600 3160 1560 

 228° 1630 4740 3110 



"The results for higher, intermediate, and lower temperatures are 



VOL. II. 17 



