WAT 
The presence of an uncombfncd al- 
kali, as well as uiicombined acids, will 
be ’discovered by the stained papers, 
and tests already pointed out. The ve- 
getable alkali, or potash, may be distin- 
guished from the mineral, or soda, by mu- 
riate of platina. 
If neutral salts be present in the so- 
lution, we have to ascertain both the na- 
ture of the acid, and that of the base. 
This may be done by attention to the 
rules already given, for the application of 
tests, which it is unnecessary to repeat in 
this place. 
III. The solution by boiling water con- 
tains scarcely any thing besides sulphate of 
lime. 
IV. The residuum (d) is to be digested 
in distilled vinegar, which takes up magne- 
sia and lime, but leaves, undissolved, alu- 
mine and highly oxydized iron. Evaporate 
the solution to dryness. If it contain ace- 
tate of lime only, a substance will be ob- 
tained which does not attract moisture from 
tlie air ; if magnesia be present, the mass 
will deliquesce. To separate, the lime from 
the magnesia, proceed as in I. 
Tlie resniue insoluble in acetous acid, 
may contain aluniine, iron, and silex. The 
two first may be dissolved by muriatic acid, 
from which the iron may be precipitated, 
first by prussiate of potash, and the alumine 
afterward by a fixed alkali. 
Water ordciil, or Trial, among our 
ancestors, was of two kinds, by hot and by 
cold water. Trial, or purgation, by boil- 
ing or hot water, was a way of prqving 
crimes, by immerging the body, or the 
arm, in hot water, with divers religions ce- 
remonies. In tlie judgment by boiling wa- 
ter, the accused, or he who personated the 
accused, was obliged to put his naked arm 
into a cauldron full of , boiling water, and to 
draw out a stone thence placed at a gieater 
or less depth, according to the quality ot 
the crime. This done, the ai m was wrapp- 
ed up, and the judge set his seal on tiie 
cltfth, and at the end of three days they re- 
turned to view it, when if it were found 
without any scald, the accused was declared 
innocent. The, nobles or great personages 
purged themselves thus, by hot water, and 
the populace, by cold water. The trial, or 
purgation, by cold water, was thus : after 
ceilain prayers and other ceremonies, the 
accused was swaddled, or tied up, all in a 
pelotoon or lump, ami thus cast into a ri- 
ver, lake, or vessel, of cold water, where if 
WAT 
he sunk he was held criminal, if he floated, 
innocent. 
Water bailiff', is an officer in sea-port 
towns, appointed for the searching of ships ; 
and in London, the water bailiff hath the 
supervising and search of fish, brought thi- 
ther ; and the gathering of the toll arising 
from the Thames ; his office is likewise to 
arrest men for debt, &;c. or otlier personal 
or criminal matters upon the river Thames. 
Water spout, an extraordinary meteor, 
most frequently observed at sea. It gene- 
rally begins by a cloud, which appears very 
small, and which is called by the sailors the 
squall ; this augments in a little time into 
an enormous cloud of a cylindrical form, 
or that of a cone on its apex, and pro- 
duces a noise like the roaring of an agi- 
tated sea, sometimes accompanied with 
thunder and liglitning, and also large quan- 
tities of rain or hail, sufficient to inundate 
large vessels, and carry away in their course ; 
when tliey occur by land, trees, houses, and 
every thing that opposes their impetuosity. 
Sailors, dreading the fatal consequences of 
water spouts, endeavour to dissipate them 
by firing a cannon into them just before they 
approach the ship. We shall give' an ac- 
count of one as described by M. Tourne- 
fort, in his Voyage to the Levant. 
“ The first of these,” says this traveller, 
“ that we saw, was about a musqnet-shot 
from our ship. There we perceived the 
Walter began to boil, and to rise about a foot 
above its level. The water was agitated 
an(i whitish; and above its surface there 
seemed to stand a smoke, such as might be 
imagined to come from wet straw before it 
begins to blaze. It made a sort of a mur- 
'muring sound, like that of a torrent heard 
at a distance, mixed, at the same time, 
with a hissing noise, like that of a serpent : 
shortly after we perceived a column of. this 
smoke rise up to the clouds, at the same 
time whirling about with great rapidity. It 
appeared to be as thick as one’s finger ; and 
the former sound still continued. Wien 
this disappeared, after lasting for about 
eight minutes, upon turning to the opposite 
qu-arter of tlie sky, we perceived anotlier, 
which began in the manner of the former ; 
presently after a third appeared in the west ; 
and instantly beside it still another arose. 
The most distant of- these three could not 
be above a musket-shot from the ship. 
They all continued like so many heaps of 
wet straw set on fire, that continued to 
smoke, and to make the same noise as be- 
fore. We soon after perceived each, with 
