184 [Assembly 



in the form of rain. Water may be converted into steam at a tem- 

 perature of 212 degrees, and it cannot be made any warmer in the 

 air if exposed, for the reason that the heat is carried off by the steam 

 generated. Close it in a tight vessel, and a much greater degree oi 

 heat may be obtained. When water boils in an open metal vessel, you 

 may plunge in a thermometer, and it will rise immediately to 212 

 degrees, but no higher; if you let it remain until all the water evapo- 

 rates, still, the thermometer will remain at 212 degrees; in glass it 

 boils at 214 degrees. 



The boiling point of turpentine is 316®, mercury 662°, and 

 ether 96*^. You would naturally suppose that steam was moist, as 

 you see it rising from the spout of a tea-kettle. Such is not the case; 

 on the contrary, it is as long as it remains in the state of steam per- 

 fectly dry — it is only when returning to its natural state, water in a 

 condensed form, that moisture is apparent — when you observe steam 

 issuing from the waste pipe of a steam boat, if you follow it with 

 your eye, you will discover as soon as it comes in contact with 

 the cold atmosphere, it is converted into water and returns in that 

 shape to the deck. If you put a kettle of water on the fire for the 

 purpose of heating it, and after it has been on the fire for a short time, 

 place your hand in the top you will find it cool; thrust it to the bot- 

 tom and you will discover the water is warm : the reason is that the 

 water at the bottom becomes heated first, and then expands and be- 

 comes lighter, and ascends gradually to the surface, and other layers 

 in turn take its place at the bottom, until the whole mass becomes 

 hot and boils. Water never becomes congealed until the atmosphere 

 is indicated by the thermometer as down to 32° — when the air is ex- 

 cluded from the water it freezes, forming a bulk much greater than the 

 water frozen, consequently it is lighter by j\\ and rests on the sur- 

 face. The expansion of water when freezing is so great, that no ves- 

 sel can be made strong enough to resist its power. I have often been 

 asked why I am so particular in ploughing lands that I intend for 

 summer crops, in the fall, instead of spring — it is for this very reason, 

 that the soil during winter is disintegrated and most thoroughly pul- 

 verized by freezing. I could not by twenty years harrowing in the 

 spring, place the ground in the same tilth, that one winter's frost will. 

 Water not only becomes solid in ice, but in numerous other cases by 

 combining chemically with bodies, for instance when you slack lime, 

 you use water for that purpose, the water at once unites itself to the 



