330 Phillips on the Oil Quest iorr, 



be obtained but at a temperature much beyond what ourther- 

 mometers will measure." Such were your opinions, previously 

 to the panting- of our Rtmarks, and let us examine what they 

 contain on the subject. Mr. Philip Taylor, one of the Associates, 

 states, (" volume which has been put forth," p. 30,) that having 

 put a pint of whale oil into a retort, and heated it by a gas light 

 to 620°, he procured an inflammable emanation ; and he adds, 

 *' after agitating some of this gas with water, I tried its inflam- 

 mability, and found it very similar to oil-gas. I then received 

 a fresh portion into an air jeir, graduated in cubic inches; fifty 

 inches were thus collected, and after standing more than three 

 weeks, in my experiment room, the absorption and condensatioii 

 only amount to six cubic inches, and the gas continues to 

 exhibit the appearance of oil-gas. There was no formation of 

 charcoal in the retort during the production of the gas." 



Now observe the dilemma to which you have reduced your- 

 self: either you knew or you did not know that inflammable 

 gas could be procured in the manner described by Mr. Taylor. 

 If you did not know it then you must have perceived that the 

 Associates have adduced one new experiment ; and seeing its 

 importance and its direct bearing on the question, you must 

 have purposely suppressed it. But if, on the other hand, you 

 did know that inflammable gas might be produced from oil 

 without charcoal being formed ; that it was not carbonic 

 acid that was evolved at 620° ; and if also you knew that 

 inflammable gas might be obtained at a temperature not be- 

 yond what our thermometers will measure, then the triumph 

 of which you boast is such as your friends must deplore, and the 

 associates would have spared you. 



The next passage which I shall notice occurs in page 98. 

 Here, in consequence of having been charged with garbling and 

 suppressing evidence, you say " can any candid and ingenuous 

 person suppose that I should, without being publicly called 

 xipon, have undertaken to give a correct account of the chemical 

 evidence that was adduced on this most important trial, and 

 then have entered upon the task with a determination to conceal 

 some parts, to garble and curtail others, and to misrepresent 



