g60 Reminiscences of the late Mr. Whitney. 



no record was ever made of them, and it is but too probable that 

 the instruments are lost. 



I have mentioned these facts, connected with Mr. Whitney's last 

 illness, merely as instances of his never-sleeping ingenuity and men- 

 tal acuteness, rendered still more active, without being enfeebled, by 

 intense suffering. 



I have seen the same traits manifested on occasions, far less impor- 

 tant, but to him, at the time, equally novel. In the summer of 1808, 

 application was made by myself and others to Mr. Whitney for tubes 

 of block tin, for the purpose of drawing, through an innocent metal, 

 the soda water* highly charged with carbonic acid gas. Lead and 

 copper tubes were rejected, on account of their poisonous properties, 

 and there were then no facilities in this country for constructing the 

 tubes that were desired. Mr. Whitney accomplished the object, with 

 his usual precision. The tubes were required to be many feet long, 

 and strong enough to resist a heavy pressure. He caused a mould to 

 be constructed of cast brass; it was in two parts, each containing, for 

 about two feet in length, one half of the cylindrical cavity, corres- 

 ponding to the desired tube ; when the parts of the mould were ac- 

 curately fitted, by their faces, and screwed together, they contained 

 the entire cylindrical cavity between them, and to secure the duct 

 through the tube, a polished steel rod, of the proper size and made 

 very slightly tapering, was fixed in the centre and the melted metal 

 was cast around it ; the rod, being terminated by a ring, was easily 

 knocked out. The separate parts of the tube, thus produced, were 

 then joined into one, by having the contiguous ends of two of them 

 brought, longitudinally, into contact, and included in another mould, 

 containing an enlarged cavity, into which melted tin was poured j 

 the duct was preserved by a steel rod passing through it, as before, 

 and thus the joint was perfected by a knob of metal, which at once 

 united the two tubes into one, gave them great additional strength, 

 and furnished a beautiful ornament. Nothing could be more per- 

 fect, for the object. The moulds are still in existence, and were it 

 necessary, tubes could be thus made a mile long. Mr. Whitney did 

 not state that this method was original, nor do I certainly know whether 

 It was, but I have never heard of a similar method of casting block tin 



'' Then just beginning to be known in this country. 



