ON THE 



CONSTRUCTION OF FURNACES 



FOR HIGH HEATS, 



AND THE THEORY OF THEIR OPERATION. 

 Br T. R. ROBINSON, F. T. C. D. M. R. I. A. 



I'll nTji'O '']£' I Qi I" ■■ 



Read April 21, 1817. 



We are told that Chemistry was formerly denominated the Phi- 

 losophy of fire, and caloric is still our most powerful agent ; it is 

 therefore of some importance to the practical chemist to be in- 

 formed of the means by which it may be applied in the most pow- 

 erful manner, and I have endeavoured in this communication to 

 collect the facts which are scattered through the works of various 

 authors relative to the perfection of fiirnaces. Little originality can 

 be expected on such a subject, I have however attempted, where 

 any point required elucidation, to supply what was wanting in ex- 

 periment and theory ; and I have given a concise sketch of the 

 gradual improvement of these instruments down to the present 

 day. 



Of the furnaces of the ancients nothing is known, they were pro- 

 bably like those which the Hottentots and Mexicans used when 

 first visited by Europeans : Chemistry had its birth among the Ara- 

 bians, and we owe to them the invention of this part of chemical 

 apparatus ; in the works of Geber we find described an air-furnace 

 exactly similar to those used at present, except that it wants a 



