Sffi WILLIAM SIEMENS, F.R.S. 127 



labour, which meant space, of course, as less men would be 

 required. Then there was another great advantage there was no 

 smoke. This, in the case of men-of-war, was very important, 

 because a fleet of steam vessels at present could be seen while they 

 were many miles below the horizon. For the mercantile marine, 

 however, the question would reduce itself to one of price ; and if 

 the oil were 5 a ton, and the coal 1, no doubt the advantage 

 would be in favour of the latter. 



Captain Selwyn said he was now using oil at Id. a gallon, or not 

 quite 1 Is. a ton. 



The Chairman said, that so long as the oil could be obtained at 

 anything like the price now mentioned, no doubt it would be a 

 most valuable fuel ; but the question was, would the price remain 

 so favourable to the consumer if the demand should increase ? Of 

 that he must say he had considerable doubt. If they had to distil 

 the oil specially for the purpose from coal it must be expensive, 

 and they must therefore fall back upon the natural supplies, or 

 those which were incidental to other manufactures, which supplies 

 must necessarily be limited. As to the use of water for burning, 

 he was quite sure that no one acquainted with the subject would 

 attribute any special evaporating power to water itself. . Water 

 might be usefully applied sometimes in conveying heat from one 

 place to another, as, for instance, the introduction of a jet of 

 steam under a grate on which anthracite coal was burning pro- 

 duced a gaseous fuel, the heat from which might be readily con- 

 veyed to a considerable distance, but as to getting heat out of 

 water it was absolutely impossible. He would conclude by moving 

 a vote of thanks to Dr. Paul, to which he was sure they 

 would feel he was fully entitled for his able and carefully 

 written paper. 



