VOL. L.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 243 



actly as high as the last rank of mamellag, which wreath upon, embrace, and 

 sustain it, leaving always an empty space to let the sea-water pass in, which 

 should fill the inside of the egg or bladder, and even to let in little fishes and 

 shells. He found in one little living nuiscles, as they always are attached to 

 some solid body by their beards. Now by what means could they enter into this 

 egg} probably they had their beginning there, by the seminal matter of muscles 

 carried in by the sea-water. He also found some small star-fish, whose rays 

 might be about 4 or 5 lines long. 



LXXXFIl. Of the Distilling Water Fresh from Sea-water by Wood-ashes. 

 By Capt. fVilliam Chapman, p. 635. 



Some time in September 1757j when Capt. C. had been 10 days at sea, by an 

 accident (off the north cape of Finland) they lost the greatest part of their 

 water. They had a hard gale of wind at s. w. which continued 3 weeks, and 

 drove them into 73° lat. During this time he was very uneasy, as knowing if 

 their passage should hold out long, they must be reduced to great straits; for 

 they had no rains, but frequent fogs, which yielded water in very small quantities 

 He now blamed himself for not having a still along with him, as he had often 

 thought no ship should be without one. But it was now too late; and there 

 was a necessity to contrive some means for their preservation. 



He was not a stranger to Appleby's method: he had also a pamphlet written 

 by Dr. Butler, in titled, An easy Method of procuring Fresh Water at Sea. 

 And he imagined, that soap might supply the place of capital lees, mentioned 

 by him. He now set himself at work, to contrive a still; and ordered an old 

 pitch-pot, that held about 10 quarts, to be made clean: the carpenter, by his 

 direction, fitted to it a cover of fir-deal, about 2 inches thick, very close; so that 

 it was easily made tight by luting it with paste. They had a hole through the 

 cover, in which was fixed a wooden pipe nearly perpendicular. This he should 

 call the still-head; it was bored with an augre of J4- inch diameter, to within 3 

 inches of the top or extremity, where it was left solid. They made a hole in 

 this, towards the upper part of its cavity, with a proper angle, to receive a long 

 wooden pipe, which they fixed in it, to descend to the tub in which the worm 

 should be placed. Here again he was at a loss, for they had no lead pipe, nor 

 any sheet lead, on board. He thought, if he could contrive a straight pipe to 

 go through a large cask of cold water, it might answer the end of a worm. They 

 then cut a pewter dish, and made a pipe 2 feet long: and at 3 or 4 trials, for 

 they did not let a little discourage them, they made it quite tight. They bored 

 a hole through a cask, with a proper descent, in which they fixed the pewter 

 pipe, and made both holes in the cask tight, and filled it with sea- water: the 

 pipe stuck without the cask 3 inches on each side. Having now got his apparatus 



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