366 



and Surrender of the Post of Detroit ; by his Grandson, James 

 Freeman Clarke, New York. 1848. 8vo. — From the Editor. 



The Medical News and Library. Vol. V. Dec. 1847. No. 60. 

 8vo. — From Messrs. Lea S^ Blanchard. 



Report of the Organization Committee of the Smithsonian Institution. 

 Report of the Board of Regents, submitted to Congress, of the 

 Operations, Expenditures, and Condition of the Smithsonian In- 

 stitution. — From T. R. Peale, Esq. 



Professor Henry presented a communication from Mr. T. 

 Allen, entitled " An account of the inflammable Gas-wells on 

 the banks of the Kanawha river, in Virginia, as they appeared 

 in June, 1847," which was read by the Secretary. 



Mr. Allen states that the terra " gas-well" is applied in that part of 

 the country to designate certain borings or artesian wells, made to 

 the depth of from 1000 to 1800 feet, for the purpose of procuring 

 stronger brine than that nearer the surface, from which escape, to- 

 gether with the brine, large quantities of carburetted hydrogen gas, 

 which is applied as a fuel in the process of manufacturing the salt. 

 The boring is about 3 inches in diameter, and is fitted with a copper- 

 pipe, from the top of which the mingled gas and liquid, forced upward 

 by the pressure at the bottom of the well, are conveyed through 

 wooden-pipes to a square cistern of planks, supported at a height of 

 10 to 1*2 feet above the level of the soil, for the purpose of obtaining 

 a head for distributing the liquid to the evaporating pans. In this 

 cistern is placed a gas-holder, made of a portion of the trunk of a 

 hollow sycamore (buttonwood) tree, closed above by a plank top, 

 and open below, beneath which the conducting pipe terminates. The 

 gas and liquid at once separate, and while the latter is conducted to 

 the salt-pans, the former accumulates in the gas-holder, and is con- 

 veyed through a wooden pipe from its top to the furnace chamber, 

 where it is distributed through iron-tubes inserted in the masonry. 

 The furnace chamber is about 100 Ceet in length, and 5 or 6 feet 

 wide, furnished below with an ordinary grating to admit air, (the 

 supply of which is regulated by fiat stones covering more or less of the 

 openings), and closed above by the bottoms of the cast iron salt-pans. 

 The o-as being specifically lighter than the air, rises and occupies the 

 upper portion of the chamber in contact with the pans, but burns only 

 at its lower surface where it is in contact with the air; thus fur- 

 nishing a sheet of flame suspended midway of the height of the cham- 



