1855] WRITINGS OF JOSEPH HENRY. 361 



that the liquor in the upper part of a tall standing cask was 

 thought to be stronger than that drawn out near the bottom." 



This statement would seem to receive some countenance 

 from the following remarks on the same subject in Gmelin's 

 Treatise on Chemistry, vol. i, p. 112, English edition: 



"Similarly brandy kept in casks is said to contain a greater 

 proportion of spirit in the upper, and of water in the lower 

 part. Here again the question may be raised whether the 

 cask may have been filled with succes.sive portions of differ- 

 ent strengths which may have disposed themselves in layers 

 one above another." 



"As to the propriety," says Dr. Gale, "of granting or re- 

 fusing a patent, on the evidence before the ofiice, in considera- 

 tion of the oath of the inventor, the want of means in the 

 office to satisfactorily verify or disprove the experiment, and 

 lastly, the subsequent statement of the inventor that he had 

 verified the experiment by several months' work on a practi- 

 cal scale, these facts were regarded as good ground for issuing 

 the patent. If the partj' should be found to have made a 

 false statement, and so committed a fraud on the Patent 

 Office, these acts were his own, and for which he must be 

 held responsible." 



If the result said to be obtained were true, it would follow 

 that the affinity of bodies for each other would be modified 

 by pressure. Though from theoretical considerations, it 

 might not be thought impossible that the attraction of two 

 substances for each other might be increased by an increase of 

 pressure, yet there is no antecedent probability that the 

 attraction would be diminished under this influence. But 

 as an account of this invention had been widely circulated 

 in the newspapers, its author had received from the Patent 

 Office the right to vend the privilege of its use, and the 

 public were exposed to be defrauded in the purchase of that 

 which was worthless, it seemed desirable to settle the ques- 

 tion as to the truth of the principle by direct experiment, 

 irrespective of theoretical considerations, and on a scale of 

 sufficient magnitude to leave no doubt as to the result. 



With this view, in behalf of the Smithsonian Institution, 



