Proceeding of the American Association (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1856 edition. Excerpt: ...burst outwards, like a breaking jar filled with air, under an exhausted receiver. In the New Brunswick storm, desks were broken open, in a manner resembling the bursting outwards of the closed piano, as mentioned in the foregoing statement. The straightening of the wheel-tire is a fact to which I remember no parallel in the description of storms, and the compression of a hard gravelly surface fifty square feet in area to the depth of five feet, as was asserted to have occurred beneath the middle wagon, was an exhibition of an elastic force to which I have recognized few equals among terrestrial forces. 9. Account Of Experiments On The Alleged Spontaneous Separation Of Alcohol And Water, Made At The SmithsoNian Institution. Communicated by Professor Joseph HenRy, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. At the last meeting of the American Association, a notice was given of a new process for procuring alcohol, for which a patent had been granted. The weak spirit, left to itself in a vessel of great height, was said to separate spontaneously into a strong alcohol, which rose to the top of the column, and into a weaker spirit which was found at the bottom. For the following statement and remarks relative to granting the patent, I am indebted to Dr. Gale, one of the principal examiners of the Patent-Office. "When the alleged invention was presented, much doubt was expressed as to the working of the plan, and the author was requested to answer the following questions to satisfy the office on the subject: --"' Have you employed this device for purifying alcohol or whiskey? If so, please state what kind, what size, and what proportioned apparatus you have used on a working scale, and what results you have obtained.' "To this the applicant...