Phillips On the Oil Question. 329 



" I deny this, and assert that they are both correct. Mr. 

 Children, after mentioning the size of the vessel, viz., 3 feet 

 long, 15 inches wide and 15 inches deep, says " this measure- 

 ment reduced to cubic inches gives the capacity of the vessel 

 equal to 8100"(iJema?-/es, p. 44.) Dr. Bostock having also quoted 

 the dimensions of the vessel as above given, says, " which 

 will give a capacity of 8,100 cubic inches". {Remarks, p. 51.) 

 Now unless you are prepared to deny that 15x15—225x36 

 = 8100, both these " calculations as to the quantity of oil the 

 vessel would hold" are correct. 



It is indeed true, that in one part of Dr. Bostock's statement, 

 6 is erroneously printed instead of 5; but the result is not 

 affected by it, for he has correctly calculated both the capacity 

 of the boiler, and the degree of expansion which the oil under- 

 goes by heating. Mr. Children has certainly committed an 

 error in allowing for the expansion of the oil, but why have you 

 not pointed it out? Because to have made the correction 

 would have convicted you of greater error ; and therefore you 

 applied your general rule for unpleasant and inconvenient 

 evidence, and suppressed it. In adding two numbers together, 

 Mr. Children intending to admit even more expansion than you 

 state oil to undergo, allowed the unoccupied space of the boiler 

 to be only 970 instead of 1170 cubic inches. 



I next notice the following passage from p. 95 of your Reply, 

 " But when I examine the volume which has been put forth, 

 and perceive that the writers have not adduced one new experi- 

 ment, nor have taken the least pains, ^c. S^c." Now in your 

 Observations (p. 329, note) you say that you are convinced that 

 " no inflammable gas is produced until a portion of the oil 

 becomes actually decomposed, and charcoal formed ;" and 

 again, speaking of some gas which you obtained from oil, 

 heated from 590° to 620°, you say, " I have no doubt but the 

 gas, in both instances, was carbonic acid gas ; for when cooled, 

 and mixed with atmospheric air, it would not inflame on the 

 application of a match." Once more, in p. 344 of your Observa- 

 tions, you say, with respect to " inflammable gas," " I have 

 since the trial, proved by unequivocal experiments, that it cannot 



