30 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 1. 



nothing except Hour has been available at all. 

 A better day has now dawned upon us. The 

 Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, and the Baltimore 

 and Ohio Rail Road, both now in full and success- 

 fid operation to Harper's Ferry, give us an outlet 

 at that point, and have already "reduced the ex- 

 pense in a very great degree. Within another 

 year the completion of the Winchester and Poto- 

 mac Rail Road to a junction with those great 

 works, will leave us nothing to desire as to trans- 

 portation, and must very materially enhance the 

 value of our lands. 



Our prospects lor the present year have been 

 marred by the unusual severity of the past winter. 

 The cold and dry autumn prevented the vegeta- 

 tion of the wheat in due time. It came up under 

 the snow in January, and began to promise fairly, 

 but the subsequent, intensity of the cold appears 

 to have destroyed it in its tender state; and now it 

 is very certain that the crop will be a very short 

 one. 



The foregoing remarks are designed to describe 

 things as they are in this part of Virginia, and al- 

 though devoid of any particular novelty, may not 

 be without interest to those who desire informa- 

 tion. 



A FREDERICK FARMER. 



From Dr. Lardner's Second Lecture on Steam, Delivered be- 

 fore the Liverpool Mechanics' Institution. 



NEW MOVING POWERS, AND IMPROVEMENTS 

 ON THE USE OF STEAM. 



The celebrated Leslie has invented a method of 

 producing ice, by the employment of sulphuric 

 acid. This acid has such a strong affinity for wa- 

 ter, that if it is present in an atmosphere filled I quify them. 



will again assume a liquid state; it may also be 

 made solid, so as to take a shape like a metal. 

 The most refractory substances we know of are 

 capable of being converted into liquids by heat. 

 All the metals we know of may be brought into a 

 state of fusion by a proper supply of heat; indeed, 

 all substances, by proper treatment, may be seen 

 in the solid, fluid, and a>riform state. By turning 

 the rays of the sun, through a lens, upon gold and 

 pantinum, we can decompose them, and convert 

 them into gas. There is only one solid which has 

 not yielded to fusion, and that is carbon, or the 

 diamond; but we can only conceive that we cannot 

 reduce it, because we cannot command a sufficient 

 quantity of heat to melt it and maintain it in a li- 

 quid state. Of all liquid there is only one which 

 has not been congealed by the abstraction of heat, 

 and that is alcohol, or spirits of wine. 



We can only argue by analogy, that the bodies 

 which exist in the gaseous state can be reduced 

 to liquids or solids: which leads us to suppose that 

 the substances known as atmospheric air, oxygen, 

 hydrogen, &c. are, in fact nothing but the steam 

 of various substances which cannot exist in the 

 liquid state upon the surface of our globe without 

 being deprived of a large portion of heat. This 

 analogy has been confirmed by recent experiments 

 and discoveries, particularly by those of our dis- 

 tinguished countryman Farrady. Neither steam 

 nor any gas can be reduced to a liquid by com- 

 pression alone, however high the degree of com- 

 pression applied to it, notwithstanding the asser- 

 tions of superficial writers, and even of* some who 

 are otherwise well informed, on the subject. But. 

 if' by the compression we could squeeze out the 

 heat from these gaseous bodies, we could then li- 

 Dr. Farrady has substantiated this 



with vapor, it will immediately seize upon the va- 

 por and incorporate it with itself. He places wa- 

 ter in a watch-glass under an air-pump, with sul- 

 phuric acid near it: the air being withdrawn from 

 the pump, the sulphuric acid seizes upon the vapor 

 as it rises from the water, and the water parting 

 with all its heat to maintain the vapor, is conver- 

 ted into ice. In perlbrming this experiment, it is 

 necessary that the vessel containing the sulphuric 

 acid should not be in contact with the water, 

 otherwise the degree of heat which accompanies 

 the combination of the vapor and the sulphuric- 

 acid would prevent congelation taking place. 



A very pretty experiment, to prove that the at- 

 mospheric pressure is a great agent in preventing 

 water from boiling, can be performed with a flask 

 half filled with boiling water, and closed at the neck. 

 If it is in that state plunged into cold water, it will 

 boil; but the ebullition will cease when plunged 

 into boiling water. This is because the cold wa- 

 ter condenses the steam in the upper part of the 

 flask, and, by removing the pressure, allows the 

 water to boil; whilst the hot water keeps up the 

 temperature of the steam which presses on the 

 surface of the water so as to prevent it boiling. 



From these investigations it may be concluded, 

 that a liquid or gaseous^tate is not essential to the 

 nature of any substance, but that its state is en- 

 tirely dependent on the supply of heat which that 

 substance has access to. We know that water 

 can be passed through these three states, by the 

 abstraction or the application of heat. Fluid mer- 

 cury may be evaporated, and the fact ascertained 

 by passing the vapor through a cold tube, and it 



by actually converting several gases into liquids. 

 For instance: he found, that when carbonic acid 

 gas was submitted to a pressure of 1000 lbs. on the 

 square inch, it became a liquid. It must, however, 

 be remarked, that as the pressure is increased, the 

 temperature is raised; and it is not until the gas is 

 cooled that liquid is produced. These facts, uni- 

 ted with the other analogy, afford such a high de- 

 gree of probability, that, to a reflecting mind, 

 there can be no doubt that every substance, in 

 parting with its heat to a certain extent, becomes 

 a solid; and it is possible to conceive that it", by any 

 circumstances, the temperature of our globe were 

 raised sufficiently, the water of the ocean would no 

 longer be able to exist in a liquid form, but would 

 assume the state, of vapor, and mix with the at- 

 mospheric air. By the same cause, many of the 

 solids would be converted into liquids, and fill the 

 body of the ocean, so that we should have an at- 

 mosphere of steam, and an ocean of metal — a gold 

 and a silver sea. Then, again by the process of 

 evaporation, which causes liquids to pass into va- 

 pors, we should see the iable of Jupiter descend- 

 ing in a golden shower illustrated in golden and 

 silvery showers. To carry the analogy still fur- 

 ther; we know that water cannot exist in a liquid 

 state at the poles. A slight decrease in the tem- 

 perature of the globe, on a change of distance of 

 the sun, would cause all the water of the earth to 

 become solid; a further decrease would freeze the 

 various gases, so that the air would drop down, 

 and form an ocean of water; and a still further re- 

 duction of temperature would convert it into a 

 solid body. 



