48 



May I be permitted to mention here, a cheap and easy 

 way of making sea-wafer fresh : " 1 took," says a gentle- 

 man, " a long glass body, and having filled *it with sea 

 water, put therein sea-weed with its roots fresh and new 

 gathered. Then I put on a head and a beak, and 

 adapted a receiver thereto, without any lute, or closing 

 the joints. From the plants, distilled daily a small 

 quantity of very sweet and potable water. And pro- 

 bably there may be found other plants near the sea, 

 which would yield fresh water in large quantities." 



Sea water, simply distilled, affords a water as pure and 

 wholesome, as that obtained from the best springs. ' 



From the improvements made by Dr. Hales, it ap- 

 pears that three quarts of water might be procured iii 

 five minutes, that is fifty gallons in twelve hours, from a 

 small cylindrical still of Mr. Durand's, by setting some 

 pewter plates edge-ways in its head. And a still thirty- 

 two inches diameter, would give two hundred gallons in 

 twelve hours, with only the expense of a bushel and 

 half of coals. 



When sea water is boiled in a close covered vessel. 

 the steam is converted into fresh water on the inside of 

 the cover. And from a pot of thirteen inches diameter, 

 by frequently removing the cover, and pouring off the 

 water collected upon it, a quarter of a pint of fresh 

 fresh water is procured in an hour. 



Perhaps a yet better way of making sea water fresh, 

 is the following. Take bees wax, and mould it into the 

 form of an empty hollow vessel ; sink the vessel into 

 the sea. The water, in some will work its way through 

 the pores of the wax, and the quantity contained in the 

 vessel will be fresh, and good for use. The same \vill 

 happen by using a round earthen vessel, and stopping the 

 aperture: for the water that penetrates is percolated 

 and pure. 



But fresh-water may be had in much greater plenty, 

 and more expeditiously, by filling a vessel with river- 

 sasd or gravel, and pouring salt-water upon it. The 

 vessel must be perforated at bottom, and by applying a 



