452 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



builder, the late George Steers, adopted the wave line which he said nature 

 pointed out to us, and nothing can now equal that system for speed and 

 safety. If a vessel is lengthened, we diminish the resistance of the mass, 

 but multiply the friction in proportion to, the length; we have also the fric- 

 tion of the particles of water itself. Resistance from this cause, however, 

 does not vary with the velocity but is constant at all speeds. Bat the 

 pneumatic resistance is said to increase in a fourfold ratio with every 

 increase of speed, so in order to get the requisite speed we should construct 

 the bow, bottom and afterpart in such a way as to sail over as it were with 

 the least effort; the bow should be made sharp which will greatly decrease 

 the angle of resistance. I throw out these crude ideas merely to awaken 

 an interest in the subject. 



Novelties at the Fair. 



On the subject for the evening being taken up, the Chairman made a 

 diagram on the black board, of a powerful press, exhibited at the fair, the 

 peculiar feature of which, he said, was the cone shape of the drum and the 

 spiral groove around which the rope passed that gradually increased the 

 diameter of the drum or axle, thus exerting immense power. This press 

 would no doubt make a good and cheap hay press. The Chinese windlass 

 is constructed somewhat on this principle, and the force exerted is so great 

 that one man can raise all the weight that the props which support the 

 windlass are capable of sustaining. We thus get an immense power, but 

 of course at the expense of time, for the handle of the windlass may be 

 turned several times while the drum will go round but once. This form of 

 power can be applied to a variety of purposes. 



Gas Burning Stoves. 



Prof, Vanderweyde. — I noticed at the fair several stoves for burning gas 

 as fuel, in one of which the gas is burned through sand. When we burn 

 gas with a blue flame we have less light but more heat. The Bunsen burner 

 gives more heat than the same amount of gas burnt in the usual way; when 

 the combustion is perfect we have a blue flame and then get the maximum 

 of heat; when we burn a small jet we have a blue flame, and this produces 

 as much heat as that amount of gas is capable of giving, but when we 

 turn on more gas the carbon passes out so rapidly that the hydrogen has 

 not time to burn it and it smokes; the best light is got when we have the 

 gas on the point of smoking, and when it is passed through sand the gas 

 is rarified before burning. Heat is only a low degree of light. 



The Chairman. — It is now well settled that both heat and light are the 

 results of vibrations of ether or oeth; and it is very important that we 

 should speak of them as such. These transverse vibrations are very dif- 

 ferent from those of air which produce sound by what may be termed waves 

 of density. The manner in which heating undulations are produced by the 

 chemical combination of oxygen with both carbon and hydrogen has not 

 yet been explained. When this is done, we shall be able to construct our 

 heaters on scientific principles and perhaps introduce new means of exciting 

 the undulatory power wliich have hitherto been overlooked. The attention 

 of the association will be more particularly invited to this subject at a 

 future meeting. 



