278 On the Volatility and Inflammability 



In answer to a question by a juryman, the witness added, that 

 he was sure as to tlie words he addressed to Mr. Bishop, " Have 

 \ou kept this a secret from your partners as well as from the of- 

 fices ?" He asked this, from a fear that he might be blamed by 

 his partners had he been making experiments without their know- 

 ledge, and because he concluded, from what had before passed 

 between them, tliat Mr. Bishop was desirous of keeping the mat- 

 ter secret from the insurance office. The object of this secrecy 

 was, he (witness) believed, to conceal the new process from other 

 sugar-refiners, and that a thought of the increased risk never en- 

 tered his mind. 



William Cliristopher, a bricklayer in the employment of Messrs. 

 Craven and Beaumont, recollected setting up, inider Mr. Wil- 

 son's directions, an apparatus for boiling and cnculating oil, upon 

 their premises. It was set up on a detached place, and, as he 

 understood, merely as a matter of experiment. It was tried four- 

 teen~different time's; and Mr.Wilson was absent not above once or 

 twice upon these occasions. The boiler stood upon an arch in 

 a separate building, about thirty feet from the sugar-house. It 

 was twice heated, according to Mr. Wilson's directions, to a tem- 

 perature of 210, before Mr. Wilson arrived. He hin)self used to 

 raise it to 300 or 400, in order to communicate the proper de- 

 gree of heat to the whole mass. The pumping was then begun, 

 and on one occasion the pump was stopped, and the heat rose to 

 500. The door was then thrown open, and the fire damped. 

 The pipes were of pewter, and broke once or twice when the 

 oil was mixed with sugar. One day, toward the finish, whilst 

 the oil was at 210, the pan was discharged, and the pump being 

 stopped, it rose suddenly to .500. It had not stopped above five 

 minutes before the pipes burst. Mr.Wilson began agai.i to pump, 

 and afterwards proceeded to rake out the fire. The lieat, however, 

 increased till it got as high as 600. Witness threw several pails 

 of water upon the fire, but without producing any diminution of 

 the heat. Mr. Wilson and two gentlemen with him then re- 

 tired, and witness also, when he found the oil continue to come 

 out of the boiler. 



Cross-examined. — Mr. Wilson was at tliis time making ex- 

 periments. The pipes were not of copper, but pewter. No- 

 thing like a fire uas cau.sed by the accident he had described. 

 The thermometer was graduated only to 600, and the tempera- 

 ture of the oil rose to that. 



Samuel Wilkinson stated that he was foreman to Messrs. Tay- 

 lor and Martineau, chemists and engineers, and had been directed 

 by the former in February last to make some experiments in oil. 

 Mr. Martineau, one of the partners, tried a boiler on the 13th 

 with a small quantity of whale-oil. Witness was directed to add 



a large 



