the Phoenix Fire- Office. 



457 



passed three times successively 

 through a red hot tuhe could 

 not be converted into Dipple's 

 oil ; it is highly inflammable, 

 and burns at ISO^. Oil which 

 had been kept heated in a leaden 

 vessel for some time had dis- 

 solved a portion of the lead, and 

 this was much more inflamma- 

 ble, giving out combustible va- 

 pour at 460°. 



6. That there would be no 

 danger if the oil vessel leaked ; 

 a large leak would put out the 

 fire, a small leak would burn 

 like coal. 



7. That sugar was a much 

 inoie inflammable substance 

 than oil ; that next to gunpow- 

 der it was the most inflammable 

 substance in nature ; that it 

 boils at 250", and at 260° gives 

 out an inflammable vapour : if 

 iugar in the pan boiled over, it 

 would ignite and burn as it ran 

 along the floor ; and that this ef- 

 fect would be increased by its 

 being combined with water. 



vapour was condensed through 

 a worm ; the product was again 

 distilled in a glass retort, and a 

 highly inflammable volatile oil 

 came over, which boiled at ISO 

 degrees. 



6. That a leak in the oil ves- 

 sel would render the fire infi- 

 uitely more fierce and less ma- 

 nageable, as it would increase 

 the flame and prevent the heat 

 of the oil being regulated as it 

 should be. 



7. That the process of boil- 

 ing sugar in the usual niode was 

 not at all dangerous ; that be- 

 fore it could become combus- 

 tible the water must be evapo- 

 rated ; that if it boiled over, it 

 was impossible it could ignite : 

 the vapour from sugar at a heat 

 above ^40 was not inflammable, 

 and long before it reached that 

 point it became charred. 



VEGETATION OF AQUATIC PLANTS. 



To Mr. Tilloch. 



Eanhury, Nov. 21, 1820. 



•Sir, — Having frequently seen it remarked by very respectable 

 botanical writers, that the seeds of aquatic plants vegetating 

 under water, are an exception to the generally received axiom, 

 " that seeds will not vegetate unless oxygen gas or atmospheric 

 air have access to them ;" I beg leave to remark, that it is a 

 well known fact, that river water contains an abundance of at- 

 mospheric air, mechanically combined; or at least,a6 Berger has 

 demonstrated in tlie o7th volume of ihe Journal de Physiqifej 

 that atmospheric air ouffers a decomposition by its contact with 

 water, and that its oxvgen only is absorbed : consequently it ia 

 plain in this case, that it would be the more favourable Cb the 

 germination of tiic ■x'cds al)f)vc mcnlioncd. 



Vol. Ai. No. '::-. Dtc. 1820. o .M Such 



