on the Oil Question. 95 



cation of the sentiment it contains, I may be allowed to quote 

 the passage in illustfation of my definition : 



" Thus was the applause they meant 



Turn'd to exploding hiss, triumph to shame, 



Cast on themselves from their own mouths-" Milton. 



From these various authorities, we may surely be justified in 

 considering explosion to signify a hissing, or an inferior kind of 

 noise ; whereas, detonation means noise of a more violent kind, 

 which will appear by turning to its primitive, detono, which 

 means, according to Ainsworth, " to thunder mightily." I, 

 therefore, contend, that the explanation which I have given of 

 DETONATION in the vocabulary of the Chemical Catechism, as 

 " an explosion with noise," is the true definition. 



As to the circumstance, whether the pipe in their experi- 

 ment vessel dipped into the oil or not, it appeared to me 

 very strange that they should, when examined in court, have 

 acknowledged their ignorance of so important a fact; but 

 as I had noticed the circumstance, I ought, perhaps, to 

 have noticed the manner in which Wilkinson explained the 

 matter. 



In commenting upon a passage of mine, in which I express a 

 wish that the gentlemen who instituted the public experiment, 

 as it has been called, would investigate the matter thoroughly 

 for the credit of us all ; these Associates write thus : — " Who 

 would not suppose from this passage, that the gentlemen to 

 whom Mr. Parkes alludes were less anxious than himself for 

 . such investigation as he appears to wish for ?" 



In answer to this, I have no hesitation in saying, that I be- 

 lieve some of the gentlemen who were engaged for the Insurance 

 Companies, were anxious to investigate the subject, and that if 

 they had had the conducting of the experiments, they would not 

 only have discovered the truth, but would candidly have 

 avowed it. But when I examine the volume which has been 

 put forth, and perceive that the writers have not adduced one 

 new experiment, nor have taken the least pains to explain to 

 the public how they came to conclusions so diametrically oppo- 



