350 On the Compressibility of Water. 



cement, had been torn up on one side before the bottle burst. 

 The effect produced upon the cork can, we imagine, be ac- 

 counted for only in one way, viz. that the water, divided 

 into very minute particles, must, by the surrounding pressure 

 of water, have been forced through the coverings, and filled 

 the bottle ; that the water thus forced in, and condensed to 

 a great degree, expanded as the pressure was removed by 

 drawing it towards the surface, not only so as to press the 

 cork back into the neck, and, owing to the resistance of the 

 coverings, to compress it half its size, but to separate the 

 neck from the body of the bottle. 



Experiment 4. An empty porter bottle, the strongest 

 that could be found, was stopped in the following manner. 

 A cork, with a large head, was firmly driven into the neck ; 

 it was then covered with six layers of fine linen, saturated 

 with a composition of tar and wax ; over them was applied 

 a covering of leather, and all perfectly secured by being 

 well bound at the neck. The bottle, thus prepared, was 

 sunk two hundred and seventy fathoms. When drawn in, 

 it was found perfectly sound, and the sealing unchanged ; 

 but filled with water to within an inch of the cork. The 

 coverings were- taken off, layer after layer, but no signs of 

 moisture were visible. Had the bottle remained down a 

 sufficient length of time to have completely filled, it would 

 undoubtedly have been broken by the expansion of the 

 water upon being drawn towards the surface, as was the 

 case in the former experiment. It is worthy of remark, 

 that, when the water from this bottle was poured into a 

 tumbler, it effervesced like mineral water, (c) 



Experiment 5. In this experiment, two strong bottles 

 were sunk to the depth of five hundred fathoms. One of 

 them was stopped with a ground glass stopper, and well 

 cemented, then placed in a strong canvass bag. When the 

 bag was drawn in, it was found that the bottle had been 

 crushed into many thousand pieces. The other bottle was 

 very tightly corked, but, not having been left down a suffi- 

 cient length of time, it came up whole, having filled to within 

 one and a half inch. The cork had been driven in and re- 



(c) This effervescence doubtless arose from the escape of the air which 

 had been let down in the bottle, and was forced into combination with the 

 'ivater which made its way through the corking. 



