1835.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



31 



These circumstances suggest to a reflecting 

 mind the beautiful adaptation of the different ob- 

 jects on the globe to each other, and the distance 

 of the earth lrom the sun. Otherwise, those 

 substances which ought to be liquid, for the sus- 

 tenance of animals, would subsist in the solid state. 

 It is not at all improbable, that the different pla- 

 nets have different substances in them, suitable 

 to their distances from the sun; lor there is no 

 doubt that the temperature is produced by the 

 sun, and depends on the sun's distance from 

 the planets, and its intensity is diminished in 

 proportion to its distance. In the planet Ju- 

 piter, the heat is twenty-five times less than it is 

 with us; and water, on such a globe, could not ex- 

 ist in a liquid state, unless heat was supplied from 

 other causes than the sun. 



When we consider the prodigious mechanical 

 power which has been obtained, by the mere abil- 

 ity, on our part, to convert a liquid or water into 

 steam, and reconvert that steam, into water; when 

 we consider the enormous amount of human civili- 

 zation which has been produced by the due appli- 

 cation of this simple physical effect; when we con- 

 sider, that it is probable that the relations of the 

 human race may be altered and modified by this 

 application, and the very distances of the differ- 

 ent parts of the world be changed by a speedy in- 

 tercourse, and the prices of the objects of con- 

 sumption be ultimately affected by it; when all 

 these effects are attained by the mere fact of our 

 availing ourselves of the simple physical effect of 

 converting water into vapor and back again, we 

 naturally say, where there is so large a field, and 

 so many different substances from which the effect 

 may be produced, should we not expect, from the 

 large advances which are making in the generali- 

 zation of these principles, that this effect may be 

 produced from other substances. Water possesses 

 several properties which render it the most hope- 

 less and unfit for such an experiment. In order to 

 convert it into vapor, we, of course apply heat. 

 The least promising liquid is that which requires 

 the largest application of heat; and, of all liquids, 

 water consumes the largest quantity ol heat, re- 

 quiring 1000 degrees to raise it from a boiling state 

 to a state of vapor: therefore, a priori, a philoso- 

 pher would say, try spirits of wine, or a thousand 

 other things, but do not try water, for this special 

 reason. It may be said, that the cost and difficul- 

 ty of producing any species of vapor does not de- 

 pend upon the fuel necessary to produce it, but on 

 the cost of the liquid itself. Supposing, then, we 

 could get fuel for nothing, still water is the most 

 unfit and unpromising agent. For instance: in the 

 transport at sea, the source of heat is derived 

 from coals, which are bulky, and are transported 

 in the vessels in order to produce steam; the water 

 at sea costs nothing: and, suppose the fuel cost 

 nothing, still they must be carried, and they im- 

 pose a limit to the application of the steam engine 

 to the purposes of navigation. A vessel impelled 

 by steam-power of 200 horses consumes one ton of 

 coals per hour, or twenty-five tons per day: there- 

 fore, to provide for a voyage of twelve days, it 

 would have to carry with it twelve times twenty- 

 five tons of coal. Thus, therefore, there is a limit 

 to the application of steam navigation. It is gen- 

 erally understood, that a vessel cannot carry more 

 fuel than is necessary for the purpose of propelling 

 it ten or eleven days; consequently, by the present 



steam impelling power, such a voyage as from Li v- 

 erpool to New York could not be made lor any 

 practical and advantageous purposes. 



In considering the prospects of improvement in 

 these respects, we naturally look towards those li- 

 quids which are most readily turned into gaseous 

 lbrm. Ether and alcohol are easily converted into 

 vapor, but in the way in which the steam power 

 has been applied these liquids are rather expen- 

 sive. If it was used in a high pressure engine 

 the vapor would escape into the air and be lost, 

 whilst, in a condensing engine, although not lost, 

 it would be mixed with so much water that its sep- 

 aration would be attended with a considerable ex- 

 pense. There is only one other way in which it 

 is possible to use alcohol, namely, by condensation, 

 in contact with a cold surface. If we introduce the 

 vapor of spirits of wine into a thin shell, formed 

 by two bodies placed upon one another, after work- 

 ing the engine, it will spread over the cold surface of 

 the hollow shell, the steam will be reconverted into 

 a liquid state, and trickle out at the bottom, so as 

 to be wanned over again, and this might be carried 

 on from time to time. 



But this great step must be followed by another 

 improvement in the steam engine, especially for 

 the purposes of transport both by land and by wa- 

 ter, which will doubtless be cultivated in our own 

 time. Jt is the application of the gases, and es- 

 pecially of carbonic acid gas. in a liquid lbrm. If 

 we could obtain carbonic acid in sufficient quantity, 

 and on sufficiently moderate terms, there is no rea- 

 son why it should not be employed to supercede 

 steam at the present time. This gas takes the li- 

 quid form at the common temperature, under a 

 pressure of 1000 pounds, and in that state exerts a 

 prodigious power, and from its small bulk, would ef- 

 fect a saving of tonnage. The difficulty to its adop- 

 tion lies in the price of the liquid, the providing of 

 proper air-tight valves and pistons, and in guard- 

 ing against the corrosion which the carbonic acid 

 would cause in the materials themselves. But all 

 these are matters of detail, and are at present but 

 temporarily difficult, and we may, therefore, look 

 forward to the superceding of coals altogether in 

 the steam engine, by the use of the liquid carbon- 

 ic acid, as nothing would be necessary except to 

 send it into the receiver, and let the piston of the 

 engine w T ork as with steam; possibly it might be 

 found expedient to apply heat, but a trifling degree 

 only could be applied, as the power of the gas is 

 so great that it has no bounds. Thus we should 

 get rid of the magnitude of the marine boiler, and 

 a thousand other inconveniences which attend it. 

 We may, therefore look forward to the time when 

 we may send our captains to sea with the wind 

 that is to blow them in their waistcoat pocket; and 

 it is not impossible, that we may get rid of those 

 ugly smoky chimneys! which are at once so un- 

 poetical and unpicturesque, and against which our 

 sailors so bitterly complain, because they deface 

 the surface of our beautiful sea. 



OPERATION OF THE FENCE LAW ON THE 

 POOR. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



Brumioick, May 1st, 1835. 



Although my experience or success will per- 

 haps not justify any attempt by me to enlighten 

 our people on the subject of agriculture, 1 am etill 



