888 Wilkins? Improvement of JV* wt/vs Apparatus. 
used here, is a barrier to their general use ; and the wa- 
ters drawn off into jugs soon become flat and insipid, 
with every precaution. Nooth’s. apparatus, which is ve- 
ry elegant, has been laid aside on account of the great 
danger of breaking it : almost every one introduced into 
use, has soon met with its fate, under the greatest precau- 
tions. In nineteen cases out of twenty the machine has 
been broken by the air being obstructed in the valve, 
which is both complex and difficult ; of course a contri- 
vance that would give a free discharge to any quantity of 
air, that might be emitted from the ingredients, would at 
once remove the great cause of damage, as well as sim- 
plify the operation. I herewith communicate to you a 
plan, that I think simple and effectual, which may re-in- 
troduce that machine, and if with this, the precaution be 
used to keep the vitriolic acid ready diluted for use, and 
a small guard-board be made over the superior stopper, 
that it may play, but not spring out, there will then re- 
main no danger but what is common to all glass ; and it 
will be as rare to hear of one being broke, as it is now to 
hear of one being sound. A great number of those im- 
ported are at first defective in the valve, which will ne 
ver be the case in this way $ and of course can be sold 
at a lower price. For better understanding the plan, 1 
send you a drawing, though I will first describe the ap 
paratus and method of fixing it.— A silver or glass si- 
phon, not less than one eighth of an inch in the bore, 
making a contracted arch so as to occupy little more room 
than a double tube, is made to pass through the bottom 
of the middle part of the machine, and there fix the ex- 
tremity of its longest leg, thus communicating (when set 
up) with the lowest part ; then passing up beyond the 
highest water mark (an inch or more) it returns quite 
down to the apex of the same piece of the machine, and 
discharges the air at the bottom of the water, A little 
