^escnption of Mr. Perkins' J^ew Steam-Etigine. Ill 



ter, and alcohol introduced into the innermost cylinder, it 

 soon boils and escapes by the pipes. These pass through 

 stuffing boxes in the bottom of the cylinder. Hence their 

 orifices, and of course the tlame, may be made to approach 

 nearer to, or recede further from, the boiler. 



The construction of this instrument, which I call the 

 compound blowpipe by alcohol, may be understood from 

 the engraving (Plate — Fig. 4.) 



The idea of making the flame of hydrogen gas, or alco- 

 holic vapour, more luminous, by an admixture of oil of tur- 

 pentine, occurred to me in 1819; and I put the idea into 

 practice, in the summer or succeeding winter of that year, 

 when my pupils witnessed the result. 



It seems, that Mr. Morey, l)y another catenation of ideas, 

 was led to a similar inference, employing, in an alcohol 

 blowpipe, whiskey and turpentine. He endeavours so 

 to regulate the efflux of a single jet of the vapour of 

 these fluids, as that it may continue to burn, when once 

 lighted. 



This process is too troublesome and precarious, for or- 

 dinary use. A mixture of alcohol and turpentine, are 

 burned with a wick in a lamp, in the same way as oil, 

 according to my plan. It is of course perfectly practica- 

 ble, and I shall be surprised if it be not adopted in the 

 western country, where alcohol may be had very cheap, 

 and oil must be comparatively dear. 



Art. XV. — Description of Mr. Perkins' Kew Steam-Enginhf 

 and of the application of his Invention to Engines of the Old 

 Construction. (Edinb. Philos. Journal, No. xvii, p. 172.) 



We have already communicated to our readers in the 

 two last Numbers of this Journal, all the authentic informa- 

 tion which we could obtain respecting Mr. Perkins' new 

 Steam-Engine ; and we have used the Utmost diligence to 

 obtain such farther information as may, in some measure, 

 gratify that curiosity which these imperfect notices have 

 excited. There never has been in our day an invention 

 which has created such a sensation in the scientific and in 

 the manufacturing world. The steam-engine of Mr. Watt 

 had been so long considered as the greatest triumph of art 

 and science, that it was deemed a sort oi heresy to regard it 



