454 



Mr. J. B. Hannay. 



[May 27, 



middle as from a blow with a hammer, and was bent a little. It 

 became plain, then, that two should not be heated together, at least 

 where they might strike each other on explosion. Then, again, as the 

 iron took np the carbon set free, I considered that the reaction might 

 be favoured by adding some carbon to the liqnid in the form of lamp- 

 black, so that the liquid would be kept always saturated. A tube, 

 20" X 2" x y bore was filled, as before, to about three-fourths of its 

 volume, and about half a gram of lamp-black added. This was 

 heated to just below a red-heat for six hours and allowed to cool slowly. 

 On being cut open there was a considerable yield of scaly carbon, and 

 the sodium, on being dissolved, left a few pretty hard scales, along with 

 ferric oxide, spongy iron, &c. This was encouraging, and another tube 

 was filled in the same way, but it burst on heating. An experiment 

 was then tried with paraffin spirit and lamp-black alone, only about 

 2 grms. of lamp-black being added to the tube, three parts filled with 

 hydrocarbon. This experiment went successfully, and on opening the 

 tube after the outrush of gas it was found that nearly all the lamp- 

 black had been absorbed by the iron. This showed that my conjecture 

 was right about the disappearance of the carbon. Two divisions were 

 then built upon the furnace-hearth, so as to divide it into three spaces, 

 and three tubes of the above dimensions, and filled as follows, were 

 put in them : — 



No. I. 3 grms. naphtha, J grm. lamp-black, ^ full paraffin spirit. 



II 2 

 ?> ' 55 55 55 55 3 55 J» 



TTT £ 



5 5 55 55 55 55 4 55 5» 



On heating, No. II burst with a loud explosion, but did not harm 

 Nos. I and III, but on opening these next day they were found to 

 have leaked, so that there may have been no pressure inside them at 

 the time. Other two, two-thirds filled with liquid and solids as above, 

 also burst ; but as I was absent I do not know at what temperature 

 they were. 



It seemed plain that the tubes were much too frail, and although 

 they were made from " Lowmoor " iron, well hammered, and the tube 

 bored out of the solid, they invariably burst lengthwise, showing a 

 reedy structure. I determined then, to try tubes on the coil principle ; 

 so two were constructed out of the toughest bar iron, made solid, and 

 bored out afterwards. The dimensions were 20" x 2f " x J", and they 

 were heated to a just visible red-heat, and contained 3 grms. sodium, 

 \ grm. lamp-black, and two-thirds full of paraffin spirit. The heat 

 was kept up eight hours, and the tubes allowed to cool in the furnace. 

 Both kept tight, and yielded some hard scaly carbon, but nothing else. 

 One was tried with lithium, and a better yield of carbon obtained, and 

 it was also harder. Two more tubes of the same dimensions, with 

 lithium, burst, and so were lost. It now became evident that much 



