544 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



tubes, instead of a few large flues — an invention, by the way, 

 which he ascribed to John Fitch, an American, about the year 

 1780, instead of to either the Napiers of England, or the illustri- 

 ous Frenchmen who had claimed its discovery at a much later 

 date. Whoever the really first inventor, it was plain that, but for 

 the great demand for a very light and efficient boiler, induced by 

 the increase of railroads about the year 1830, the invention would 

 probably have been long since abandoned as impracticable, while 

 it is now, on the contrary, universally employed on railroads 

 wherever tracks are laid, and to a great extent on steamers and 

 in factories. 



The "Cornish" boiler was considered too cumbrous for general 

 use, and no more economical than many cheaper and more compact 

 species. The "wagon top," and other almost obsolete varieties, were 

 briefly and correctly alluded to, and many valuable but well known 

 facts in regard to the foaming or priming of boilers, his state- 

 ment with regard to the high steam carried in racing on western 

 rivers, etc., were received with marked interest by the audience. 

 The remarks were not continuous, but interspersed by various 

 short suggestions and criticisms by the members, some of 

 which we have engrafted in this hasty sketch. Some very 

 well timed observations were made on the qualities of iron and 

 methods of flanging in boiler rdaking, and on the great need still 

 remaining of improvements in insuring the proper amount of 

 water, etc., and in ascertaining the exact condition of a boiler in 

 regard to corrosion. "Short" iron, which would not bend well 

 to join flanges, was the best able to resist the action of acids, and 

 should always be used for boilers employed in sugar mills, where 

 the water is scarce, and liable to become strongly affected by the 

 acidified juices of the cane. He recommended making all the 

 angles in such cases by riveting to angle iron instead of bending 

 the sheets. 



Mr. Breisach continued his description of the wood gas inven- 

 tion. Gas from wood distilled in Pettenkoffer's apparatus was 

 not only equally permanent on account of the perfect union of the 

 carbon with the hydrogen, and more valuable on account of its 



