on the Oil Question. 105 



f^iven in evidence ; and, of course, not to a conclusion consistent 

 with the wishes and dispositions of their employers*." 



Seme of the chemists employed by the insurance offices had 

 the candour to acknowledge in court, that, in selecting their ap- 

 paratus, they had intentionally deviated from the model of that 

 on the premises of Messrs. Severn, and Co. 



" I asked Mr. Faraday, and I asked Dr. Bostock," said the 

 Solicitor General, in his address to the jury, " why they did not 

 adhere to the apparatus ? and both of them said, their object 

 was different ■\." Another thing, in which they varied very 

 materially, was, that they took all possible pains to apply the 

 heat with the utmost rapidity. " It was our intention," said 

 Mr. Faraday, " to heat as rapidly as possible,— the oil was 

 heated as rapidly as it could be done." Then says Dr. Bostock, 

 " very much depends upon the rapidity of the application of the 

 heat." Mr. Faraday is asked, " Was it rot your object to heat 

 the oil as rapidly as it could be done?" "Oh, certainly J." 

 And yet these Associates tell the public, that no violent measures 

 were resorted to for the sake of effecting their purpose. 



" During the late trials, attempts were made," say they, " to 

 promulgate an idea that violent measureshad been used to ex- 

 tort the results described by those who witnessed these experi- 

 ments ; but we must say, these insinuations were totally 

 groundless^." 



Totally groundless, were they .? How then do these gentle- 

 men account for the size of their fire-place, which was more than 

 twice as large, in proportion, as the one at the sugar-house ? 

 Why did they fix their oil vessel as near as could well be to the 

 fuel ? and why did they use the utmost exertion " to heat the 

 oil as rapidly as possible ?" Not to notice the artifice of the still- 

 head, or of the worm-tub, or of the repeated distillations of the 

 oil, as these, they will say, were not violent measures. 



* Mr. Gurney's Report of the Trial, Severn versus the Phoeuix Office, 

 page 441. 



t Ibid. |>;iy:c' 443. 

 X Ibid, page 444, 

 § The Associates' Book, piiifc 'ZU. 



