406" Means for ascertaining the 



Brought forward • • • • .£40,450 

 To complete the expense of 

 tlie works at Holyhead- £ 



harbour 5,000 



To defray the expense of 

 sundry works to he done at 



Holyhead 5,000 



35,000 



1820. 

 For defraying the charge of 

 making variations in tiie 

 road between Bangor and 



Chirk 20,000 



To complete the expense of 

 works at Holyhead-har- 



bour 5,896 



25,896 



182J. 

 For the expense of making 

 variations in the road be- 

 tween Kangor and Chirk 17,594 

 To defray the expense of 

 works at Holyhead har- 

 bour 10,850 



-28,141 



e£l29,790 



To cbarge 5,000?. in 1819 for com- 

 pletiiiEf tiieworks at Holyhead-harbour, 

 and afterwards to cliargo 5,89G/. in 

 1820; and then in 1821 to charge 

 10,850/. for defraying the expense of 

 the said works, without any intiina- 

 tion of tlieir being near completion, — 

 has a very tricky and jobbing- appear- 

 ance. And it may be asked, is there 

 a toll charged for passing over the 

 Menai Bridge; and, if so, what be- 

 comes of the receipts ? Again, are the 

 trustees or commissioners of tlie road 

 between Bangor and Chirk to have 

 ti)c benefit of all the lolls to be col- 

 lected, when the road is complete ? — 

 We trust that the present session of 

 Parliament will not be sull'ered to pass 

 away without this, and a few hundred 

 more such jobs, being questioned. 



For the Monthly Magnxine. 



IMPROVED MEANS ybr ASCERTAINING 

 the PROGRESS of DISTILLATION. 



M. GROENING, of Copenhagen, 

 availing himself of the well- 

 known fact, that the vapour of alcohol 

 has a less heat than steam under the 

 same pressure, and that the heats of 

 mixed vapours of alcohol and of water 

 are progressively intermediate, accor- 

 ding to some law depending on their 

 strengths, has been able to substitute 

 the thermometer in place of the alco- 

 bometer, for ascertaining tlie progress 

 of distillation. Having contrived lo fix 

 the bulb of a Ihcimometcr inside his 



Progress of Distillation. [June I, 



still, above the wash, with its stem 

 projecting outside, it was found in his 

 first experiments, tha,t on applying the 

 fire no spirit came over until the 

 thermometer reached C3°of Hcaumur, 

 and that this same heat continued in- 

 side tho still until about half the fluid 

 therein was evaporated ; w hen, as a 

 weaker spirit began to come over, the 

 thermomet< r began to rise, at first 

 slowly, and afterwards more rapidly, 

 until at length it became stationary at 

 80° ; when all the spirit had come over, 

 and water succeeded. After making 

 a course of similar experiments, M. 

 Groening succeeded in preparing a set 

 of tables; which, according as the 

 strength of the wash (indicated by the 

 alkohometcr before putting it into the 

 still) is greater or less, show, by help 

 of the observed degree of the internal 

 thermometer, what is the remaining 

 strength of the wash at every period 

 of the process of distillation. 



It occurs hereon to me, to sug- 

 gest a mode whereby spirit of any de- 

 sired number of different degrees of 

 strength might be separated from 

 each other, during the process of 

 distillation, without depending on the 

 caro or skill of the person attending 

 the still. For accomplishing this pur- 

 pose, 1 would insert through a stuffing- 

 box in the side of the still, at a jiroper 

 height above the w ash, a round rod of 

 metal, in an horizontal position, whose 

 further end should firmly abut against 

 the opposite side of t!ie still ; the part 

 of such rod within the still being in- 

 tended to supersede the thermometer 

 of M. Groening, and act as a pyro- 

 meter, to be expanded in length as the 

 heat ill the still shall increase: a brass 

 rod would for this purpose be prefer- 

 able to one of iron, and perhaps tin or 

 zinc might be still better, as being far 

 more expansible. At the nearer end 

 of this rod a system of levers should 

 be connected, adjustable in length and 

 j)roportion of their legs by screw- 

 movements ; which levers should in 

 their turn be attached to the discharg- 

 ing pipe, coming from the still-head, 

 near to its lower end, or below a 

 false or movable joint in such pipe. 

 All that would then remain to con- 

 struct, would be a long receiving cis- 

 tern, formed into as many liquor-tight 

 compartments as it might be desired 

 to separate spirits of dillerent degrees 

 of strength ; each of such compart- 

 ments having its own discharging- 

 cock. Then, to fit the whole for ope- 

 ration, 



