182!.] Report of Chemistry and Experimental Philosophy 



till it passed athwart tlie course of the 

 vessel, and appeaie<l directly over the 

 weatherbovv, when he altered his course 

 to S.E, After beinfj seen about five 

 minutes it sunk, and in about 8 minutes 

 after appeared again directly over the 

 \veather quarter, about the same dis- 

 tance from the sloop, and in about six 

 miuutes more he sunk and did not rise 

 astaio. Had a distinct view of the crea- 

 ture : it was entirely black ; the head, 

 which resembled a snake's, was elevat- 

 ed from four to seven feet above the 

 water, and his back appeared to be com- 

 posed of bunches or humps, apparently 

 as large or larger than a half barrel. 

 Tail not seen, out from head to last 

 hump apparently about 50 feet in length. 

 — Capt. Wheeler's statement is on oath. 

 At 7 o'clock the same morning, G. 

 Bennett, the mate of the foregoing 

 sloop, had his attention called to some- 

 thing alongside by the man at the helm : 

 it was the same serpent, or one similar 

 to tliat seen by those on deck two hours 

 before. It was not more than 14 rods 

 from the vessel : its heiid was about 

 seven feet out of the water: it was 

 black, and the skin seemingly smooth, 

 without scales ; the head as long as a 

 horse's, but " a proper snake's head" 

 — there was a degree of flatness, with a 

 slight hollow on the top of his head — 

 the eyes prominent, and standing out 

 considerably from the surface like those 

 of a toad, and nearer to the mouth than 

 to the back of tlie head. The back 

 composed of bunches about the size of a 



555 



flour barrel, and three feet apart — they 

 appeared to be fixed, but tiiis might be 

 occasioned by the motion of the animal, 

 and looked like a string of casks tied 

 together. The tail not visible, but it 

 showed a horizontal or sweeping mo- 

 tion, producing a wake as large as the 

 vessel made. The part visible appear- 

 ed to be about 50 feet in length. While 

 the mate was ascend iug the rigging to 

 get a better view, the animal sunk and 

 did not rise again. This account is 

 also upon oath. On the 1.3th of Aug. 

 1819, a sea serpent was seen near the 

 Long Beach of Nahant, by James 

 Prince, marshal of the district, and 

 more than 200 persons. It had been 

 seen the evening before at Nahant beach 

 by many people from Lynn. It had 

 the general appearance already de- 

 scribed — the bunches on his back were 

 13 to 15— from 50 to 60 feet in length. 

 Mr. Prince had more than a dozen dis- 

 tinct views of him with a good telescope 

 from the Long Beach, and at some of 

 them the animal was not more tiian 100 

 yai'ds distant. It was seen at intervals 

 from a quarter past eight till half-past 

 11 in the morning — the water quite 

 smooth. Mr. Samuel Cabot gives a 

 similar description of the serpent seen 

 the 13th of Aug. 1819; and Mr. Chee- 

 ver Felcli, chaplain of the United States' 

 ship Independence, of 7-4 guns, also de- 

 scribes the sea serpent as seen by him 

 within 20 yards on the 19th of August, 

 1819. 



REPORT OF CHEMISTRY AND EXPERIMENTAL PHILOSOPHY. 



THE dealers and speculators in oil are 

 at this time propagating a variety of 

 falsehoods relative to oil gas establish- 

 ments. We cau assure our readers that no 

 such exist. Oil gas may be preferred 

 where room is wanted, as in single build - 

 ings, but never in large establishments, 

 where economy is an object. The public 

 buildings advertised as lighted with oil 

 gas are not even lighted with any gas. 

 The parag^raphs in question are a bare- 

 faced imposition. 



Dr. Henry, of Manchester, has de- 

 termined that essentially the gases from 

 oil and from coal are composed of the 

 same ingredients, though in different pro- 

 portions, viz. simple hydrogen, light carbu- 

 retted hydrogen, and carbonic oxide gases, 

 with the addition of variable proportions 

 of an elastic fluid, which agrees with ole- 

 fiant gag in being condensable by chlorine, 

 but consumes more oxygen and gives more 

 carbonic acid, by combustion, and has a 



higher specific gravity than olefiant gas* 

 and even than atmospheric air. Whether 

 this ingredient be strictly a gas, permanent 

 at all temperatures, or a mixture of olefiant 

 gas with some new gas, constituted of hy- 

 drogen and charcoal in diflferent propor- 

 tions from what are found in the known 

 compounds of those elements, or merely 

 the vapour of a volatile oil, he leaves to be 

 decided by future experiments. 



The Poppy, Hemlock, Atropa-Balladon- 

 na, or Deadly Night Shade, &c. &c. appear 

 to owe their specific and peculiar proper- 

 ties to a substance of an alkaline nature 

 residing in them, and capable of extraction 

 and union with acids so as to form neutral v 

 salts. We have long been acquainted with ' 

 a numerous class of vegetable acids capable t. 

 of union with alkalis to form neutral salts, 

 we have now our curiosity excited by the 

 discovery of a new class of bodies, the ve- 

 getable alkalis before mentioned : they have 

 when existing by themselves a varied ap- 

 pearance, 



