366 On the Action of a Flame of the Blowpipe on other Flames. 



whom I had the honour of being acquainted some years since 

 at Vienna, resides at Kew. I regretted his absence from home 

 when I called to pay my respects to him. 

 [To be continued.] 



LVIL On the Action of a Flame urged by the Blowpipe on 

 other Flames. By Mr. Thomas Andrews. 



To the Editors of the Philosophical Magazine and Aniials. 



Gentlemen, 

 A LTHOUGH the action of the flame produced by the 

 -^^ blast of the blowpipe has been tried upon almost every 

 substance which could be exposed to it, yet its influence upon 

 flame itself has never I believe been examined*. — I directed 

 the flame of a candle urged by a mouth blowpipe upon that 

 of another candle of equal size, so that the extremity of the re- 

 ducing flame of the first candle played on the flame of the other, 

 in the same manner as the oriflce of a blowpipe. On applying 

 the blast, the flame of the second or remote candle was in- 

 verted, and exhibited nearly the same appearances as a flame 

 acted on immediately by the blowpipe; the reducing part of 

 it terminated in a perfect conical shape, and beyond it the 

 oxidizing part appeared of a similar form. The reducing 

 flame, however, formed by this means was considerably larger 

 than that formed by the blowpipe in the usual manner ; and 

 from some comparative experiments which I made, its heating 

 power appeared to be scarcely so great. I approached the 

 second candle to the first, till the reducing flame of the latter 

 penetrated beyond the flame of the former: in this case the 

 reducing flame was terminated by irregular points, and its out- 

 lines were indistinctly marked. On removing the flame of the 

 second candle into the oxidizing part of the first, the former 

 was inverted as in the other cases, but the reducing part of it 

 terminated not in a point but in a luminous zone. This latter 

 experiment will succeed even when the flames of the two can- 

 dles are six inches distant; but beyond that point an irregular 

 waving is only produced in the second flame. It is evident, 

 however, that this point will vary according to the flame which 

 is employed. 



Instead of two, I have placed six different flames in the same 

 manner in succession, and the last of them seemed to be in- 



♦ In the case of the spirits of wine eolipile, the inii)etuosity with which 

 the vapour of the spirits issues from the orifice of the tube prevents the 

 action of the flames on each otiier from being observed. 



verted 



