642 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



actions when it has near it the high temperature produced by the combus- 

 tion of hydrogen. When cyanogen is burnt in a current of oxygen, the 

 high temperature produced by the interior of the flame, makes the vapor of 

 carbon intensely hot, and hence very luminous, consequently its spectrum 

 is very luminous. 



The following communication was received from a prominent member of 

 the American Institute, James Bogardus : 

 To the Secretary of the Polytechnic AsHOciation of the American Institute : 



Sir — On page 392 of the volume of the Transactions of the American 

 Institute for the year 1862, I find the following : 



" Dry Gas Meters." 



"Mr. John Johnson : The dry meter on the table I placed there for the 

 inspection of members. In connection with the subject I will state that 

 the first dry meter in America, was made at the suggestion of Wm. S. 

 Johnson, by James Bogardus, in 1832, and there has been on an average a 

 patent a year since." 



Standing alone, without further comment, without apparent notice by 

 the Association, this paragraph would not have attracted my attention, had 

 it not been pointed out to me by several of my friends who were aware that 

 my name should never have been mentioned in connection with that of the 

 person referred to as suggesting the dry gas' meter. The necessity of a 

 contradiction of the statement of Mr. Johnson has been urged upon me, and 

 though painful to me to recur to the subject, I am convinced that the 

 printed record of what he said uncontradicted, ought not to stand unno- 

 ticed. 



I propose, in few words to give the outlines of the history of the dry gas 

 meter. It was invented and made by me, without suggestions from any- 

 body. I utterly and entirely deny having received a suggestion of either 

 subject cr mode, from any person, at any time ; and characterize the whole 

 paragraph quoted above as false in letter and spirit. 



In the year 1831, I made the first experiments towards the dry gas 

 meter. As I proceeded in my investigations, I found that the chief diffi- 

 culties could be overcome, by making the meter in two equal parts divided 

 in the middle, with a moveable partition placed between them. After 

 repeated experiments I finally brought the meter into a compact form, and 

 had it patented and sworn to as my invention, the late Mr. Serrell drawing 

 the specifications therefor. 



The history of this, and subsequent patents, is curious perhaps ; certainly 

 of painful interest to me. In the year 1833, I commissioned a young man 

 then going to England, to take out an English patent for me. On his arri- 

 val, he discovered that Messrs. Newton & Berry, of Chancery Lane, were 

 then obtaining a patent for this same meter — my meter, and for which, 

 Mr. Johnson had engaged Mr. Olmstead of New York, who had applied for 

 the patent, through Mr. Timothy Wiggins of London, Mr. Wiggins there 

 employed Messrs. Newton & Berry aS his agents. The gentleman whom I 

 had employed, died shortly after his arrival in London, and before he had 

 been able to intercept the movements of Messrs. Newton & Berry. There 

 could be no doubt of the identity of this meter. It was exactly the same 



