Art. XXIII. Respiration of Oxygen Gas.

Art. XXIII.Respiration of Oxygen Gas.

It is not extraordinary, when oxygen gas was first discovered, and found to be the principle of life to the whole animal creation, that extravagant expectations should have been formed as to its medicinal application. Disappointment followed of course, and naturally led to a neglect of the subject; and, in fact, for some years, pneumatic medicine has gone into discredit, and public opinion has vibrated to the extreme of incredulity. Partaking in a degree in this feeling, we listened with some reluctance to a very pressing application on this subject during the last summer. A young lady, apparently in the last stages of decline, and supposed to be affected with hydrothorax, was pronounced beyond the reach of ordinary medical aid. As she was in a remote town in Connecticut, where no facilities existed towards the attainment of the object, we felt no confidence that, even if oxygen gas were possessed of any efficacy in such cases, it wouldactuallybe applied in this case, in such a manner as to do any good. Yielding, however, to the anxious wishes of friends, we furnished drawings for such an apparatus as might be presumed attainable, and also written and minute directions for preparing, trying, and administering the gas. It was obtained from nitrate of potash, (saltpetre,) not because it was the best process, but because the substance could be obtained in the place, and because a common fire would serve for its extrication. The gas obtained had, of course, a variable mixture of nitrogen or azot, and probably on an average, might not be purer than nearly thereversedproportions of the atmosphere—that is, 70 to 80 per cent. of oxygen to 20 or 30 nitrogen; and it is worthy of observation, whether this circumstance might not have influenced the result.

Contrary to our expectations, the gas (as we are since informed by good authority) was skilfully prepared and perseveringly used. From the first, the difficulty of breathing and other oppressive affections were relieved: the young lady grew rapidly better, and in a few weeks entirely recovered her health. A respectable physician, conversant with the case, states, in a letter now before us, "that the inhaling of the oxygen gas relieved the difficulty of breathing, increased the operation of diuretics,and has effected her cure. Whether her disease was hydrothorax, or an anasarcous affection of the lungs, is a matter I believe not settled."

Should the revival of the experiments on the respiration of oxygen gas appear to be desired, it would not be difficult to simplify the apparatus and operations so as to bring them within the reach of an intelligent person, even although ignorant of chemistry: and this task, should there be occasion, we would cheerfully undertake to perform.

This interesting class of experiments ought to be resumed, not with the spirit of quackery, or of extravagant expectation, but with the sobriety of philosophical research; and it is more than probable that the nitrous oxyde which is now little more than a subject of merriment and wonder, if properly diluted and discreetly applied, would be productive of valuable effects.

Art. XXIV.On the Compound Blowpipe. Extract from the Journal de Physique, of Paris, for January 1818.[14]

CONCERNING HEAT.

"Heat, considered as one of the most important agents, especially in relation to chemistry, and even to mineralogy, has also been the subject of numerous labours, both with regard to the means of augmenting and of diminishing its effects.

"To the former belong the numerous experiments made, especially in England, with the blowpipe, supplied by a mixture of oxygen and hydrogen gases. Mr. Clarke has evidently been more extensively engaged in these researches than any other person, as our readers have perceived in the extracts which we have given from the labours of this learned chemist; but it is proper also to give publicity to the protest (réclamation) made to us in favour of Mr. Silliman.

"We have already stated that Mr. Hare, of Philadelphia, first conceived the idea of forming a blowpipe with explosive gas; but as we have not been conversant with the memoirs of the Society of Arts and Sciences of Connecticut, we have not made mention of Mr. Silliman.

"The fact is, that this chemist, Professor at New-Haven, published, on the 7th of May,[15]1812, a memoir containing the results of experiments made upon a very great number of bodies, until that time reputed to be infusible; and, among others, upon the alkaline earths, the decomposition of which he effected.

"The experiments of Mr. Clarke were therefore subsequent; but, having been made upon a still more extensive list of substances, they are scarcely less interesting.

"It results then, from the experiments of Messrs. Hare, Silliman, Clarke, Murray, and Ridolfi, that there is really no substance which is infusible in the degree of heat produced by this kind of blowpipe.

"In this new department of physics, it is attempted not only to apply the blowpipe to a very great number of bodies, butso to modify the instrument or apparatus as to give it the highest degree of convenience, and especially to obviate the danger of explosion."

pp. 38 & 39.

REMARKS.

As the results produced by Mr. Hare's Compound Blowpipe, fed by oxygen and hydrogen gases, continue to be mentioned in Europe, in many of the Journals, without any reference to the results long since obtained in this country, we republish the following statement of facts, which was, in substance, first published in New-York, more than a year since. It should be observed, that Mr. Tilloch has since published, in the Philosophical Magazine in London, the memoir which contained the American results, and there have been some other allusions to it in different European Journals, and to Mr. Hare's previous experiments; but still this interesting class of results continue to be attributed to others than their original discoverers.

Yale College, April 7, 1817.

Various notices, more or less complete, chiefly copied from English newspapers, are now going the round of the public prints in this country, stating that "a new kind of fire" has been discovered in England, or, at least, new and heretofore unparalleled means of exciting heat, by which the gems, and all the most refractory substances in nature, are immediately melted, and even in various instances dissipated in vapour, or decomposed into their elements. The first glance at these statements, (which, as regards the effects, I have no doubt are substantially true,) was sufficient to satisfy me, that the basis of these discoveries was laid by an American discovery, made by Mr. Robert Hare of Philadelphia, in 1801. In December of that year, Mr. Hare communicated to the Chemical Society of Philadelphia his discovery of a method of burning oxygen and hydrogen gases in a united stream, so as to produce a very intense heat.

In 1802, he published a detailed memoir on the subject, with an engraving of his apparatus, and he recited the effects of his instrument; some of which, in the degree of heat produced, surpassed any thing before known.

In 1802, and 1803, I was occupied with him, in Philadelphia, in prosecuting similar experiments on a more extended scale; and a communication on the subject was made to the Philosophical Society of Philadelphia. The memoir is printed in their transactions; and Mr. Hare's original memoir was reprinted in the Annals of Chemistry, in Paris, and in the Philosophical Magazine, in London.

Mr. Murray, in his System of Chemistry, has mentioned Mr. Hare's results in the fusion of several of the earths, &c. and has given him credit for his discovery.

In one instance, while in Europe, in 1806, at a public lecture, I saw some of them exhibited by a celebrated Professor, who mentioned Mr. Hare as the reputed author of the invention.

In December, 1811, I instituted an extended course of experiments with Mr. Hare's blowpipe, in which I melted lime and magnesia, and a long list of the most refractory minerals, gems, and others, the greater part of which had never been melted before, and I supposed that I had decomposed lime, barytes, strontites, and magnesia, evolving their metallic basis, which burnt in the air as fast as produced. I communicated a detailed account of my experiments to the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, who published it in their Transactions for 1812; with their leave it was communicated to Dr Bruce's Mineralogical Journal, and it was printed in the 4th number of that work. Hundreds of my pupils can testify that Mr. Hare's splendid experiments, and many others performed with his blowpipe, fed by oxygen and hydrogen gases, have been for years past annually exhibited, in my public courses of chemistry in Yale College, and that the fusion and volatilization of platina, and the combustion of that metal, and of gold and silver, and of many other metals; that the fusion of the earths, of rock crystal, of gun flint, of the corundum gems, and many other, very refractory substances; and the production of light beyond the brightness of the sun, have been familiar experiments in my laboratory. I have uniformly given Mr. Hare the full credit of the invention, although my researches, with his instrument, had beenpushed farther than his own, and a good many new results added.

It is therefore with no small surprise that, in theAnnales de Chimie et de Physique, for September, 1816, I found a translation of a very elaborate memoir, from a Scientific Journal, published at the Royal Institution in London, in which a full account is given of a very interesting series of experiments performed by means of Mr. Hare's instrument; or rather one somewhat differently arranged, but depending on the same principle. Mr. Hare's invention is slightly mentioned in a note, but no mention is made of his experiments, or of mine.

On a comparison of the memoir in question with Mr. Hare's and with my own, I find that very many of the results are identical, and all the new ones are derived directly from Mr. Hare's invention, with the following differences.—In Mr. Hare's, the two gases were in distinct reservoirs, to prevent explosion; they were propelled by the pressure of a column of water, and were made to mingle, just before their exit, at a common orifice. In the English apparatus, the gases are both in one reservoir, and they are propelled by their own elasticity, after condensation, by a syringe.

Professor Clarke, of Cambridge University, the celebrated traveller, is the author of the memoir in question; and we must presume that he was ignorant of what had been done by Mr. Hare and myself, or he would candidly have adverted to the facts.

It is proper that the public should know that Mr. Hare was the author of the invention, by means of which, in Europe, they are now performing the most brilliant and beautiful experiments; and that there are very few of these results hitherto obtained there, by the use of it, (and the publication of which has there excited great interest,) which were not, several years ago, anticipated here, either by Mr. Hare or by myself.

As I have cited only printed documents, or the testimony of living witnesses, I trust the public will not consider this communication as indelicate, or arrogant, but simply a matter of justice to the interests of American science, and particularly to Mr. Hare.

BENJAMIN SILLIMAN,

Professor of Chemistry and Mineralogy in Yale College.

Art. XXV.The Northwest Passage, the North Pole, and the Greenland Ice.

In looking over the foreign journals, we find no articles of intelligence so interesting as those which respect the three subjects mentioned above. Indeed, as they have found their way into most of our newspapers, it is now generally known in this country, that, in consequence of the reported breaking up of the Greenland ice, an expedition has already left England, in two divisions, the one for the purpose of exploring a northwest passage to Asia, around the North American continent, by the way of Davis's Straits; the other, for effecting the same objectby passing over the north pole.

If Horace thought that man almost impiously daring who first adventured upon the open sea, what shall we say of the hardihood of the attempt to visitTHE POLE?—the pole, which it is impossible to contemplate without awe—which, in all probability, has never been visited by any living being—where the dreary solitude has never been broken by human voice—where the sound of war has never been heard, and darkness and cold exert an almost undisputed dominion! What must be the emotions of that man who first stands upon the point of the earth's axis! Who, no longer partaking of the revolution, in circles of latitude, slowly revolves on the axis of his own body, once in twenty-four hours—to whom the sun does not rise or set, but, moving in a course very oblique to the horizon, makes scarcely a perceptible progress in twenty-four hours, and at the end of three months, when he has attained his noon, is only 23° 28′, on the arc of a vertical circle, above the horizon—to whom longitude is extinct, and who can move in no possible direction but south—to whom the stars are a blank, and towhom the polar star, could he see it, would appear in the zenith. Such are some of the most obvious results of a position on the pole. The man who first establishes himself on this sublime point, will have more reason for self-congratulation than he who led the Persian myriads into Greece, or he who pushed the Macedonians to the Indus.

On these interesting subjects, we beg leave to refer our readers to a very able treatise in the Quarterly Review for February, 1818, where all the topics at the head of this article are discussed with much learning and ability.—We extract the following passage:

"If an open navigation should be discovered across the polar basin, the passage over the pole or close to it, will be one of the most interesting events to science that has ever occurred. It will be the first time that the problem was practically solved with which the learners of geography are sometimes puzzled—that of going the shortest way between two places lying east and west, by taking a direction of north and south. The passage of the pole will require the undivided attention of the navigator. On approaching this point, from which the northern coasts of Europe, Asia, and America, and every part of them, will bearsouthof him, nothing can possibly assist him in determining his course, and keeping on the right meridian of his destined place, but a correct knowledge of thetime: and yet no means of ascertaining that time will be afforded him. The onlytimehe can have, with any degree of certainty, as long as he remains on or near the pole, must be that of Greenwich, and this he can know only from good chronometers; for, from the general hazy state of the atmosphere, and particularly about the horizon, and the sameness in the altitude of the sun at every hour in the four-and-twenty, he must not expect to obtain an approximation even of the apparent time, by observation, and he will have no stars to assist him. All his ideas respecting the heavens and the reckonings of his time will be reversed, and the change not gradual, as in proceeding from the east to the west, or the contrary, but instantaneous. The magnetic needle will point to itsunknown magnetic pole, or fly around from the point of the bowl in which it is suspended, and that which indicated north will now be south; the east will become the west, and the hour of noon will be that of midnight.

"These curious circumstances will probably be considered to mark the passage by the pole, as the most interesting of the two, while it will perhaps be found equally easy. We have, indeed, very little doubt, that if the polar basin should prove to be free from land about the pole, it will also be free of ice. A sea of more than two thousand miles in diameter, of unfathomable depth, (which is the case between Greenland and Spitzbergen,) and in constant motion, is not likely to be frozen over at any time. But if all endeavours to discover a passage to the Pacific by either route should prove unavailing, it will still be satisfactory to have removed every doubt on this subject by ascertaining the fact. In making the attempt, many objects interesting and important to science will present themselves to the observation of those who are engaged in the two expeditions. That which proceeds up Davis's Straits, will have an opportunity of adjusting the geography of the northeast coast of America, and the west coast of Greenland; and of ascertaining whether the latter be not an island or an archipelago of islands; and much curious information may be expected from both.

"They will ascertain, what is as yet but very imperfectly known, the depth, the temperature, the saltness, and the specific gravity of the sea-water in those high latitudes—the velocity of the currents, the state of atmospherical electricity in the arctic regions, and its connexion, at which we have glanced, with the inclination, declination, and intensity of force of the magnetic needle; on which subject alone, a collection of facts towards the upper part of Davis's Straits would be worth a voyage of discovery. It has, indeed, been long suspected that one of the magnetic poles will be found in this neighbourhood, as in no part of the world have such extraordinary phenomena been observed, or such irregularities in the vibration and the variation of the needle.

"A comparison of the magnetic influence near the pole, with what it has been observed to be on the equator, might lead to important results; and the swinging of a pendulum as near the pole as can be approached, to compare with the oscillations observed in the Shetland Islands, and in the southern hemisphere, would be a great point gained for science."

We have no room in this Number to consider the probability of success in this attempt, nor the question, whether the breaking up of the Greenland ice, and its passage to, and dissolution in, the south, have been attended with a chilling influence on the continents. That such a chilling effect might be extensively exerted, is certainly credible. Approaching some of the icebergs, in April 1805, on the shoals of Newfoundland, we were rendered very sensible of the vicinity of such dangerous neighbours, by the great chill in the air, long before they were visible; and when we had passed them, the weather again grew milder.

Perhaps it militates against the probability of finding the northern polar basin free of ice, that Captain Cook, in his approximation to the southern pole, in January, 1773, when in latitude 67° 15′ south, "could proceed no farther; the ice being entirely closed to the south, in the whole extent from east to west-southwest, without the least appearance of any opening." The advanced season of the year did not, however, permit Captain Cook to ascertain whether he could coast around this ice—whether it was ultimately attached to land, or was a part of a vast field extending to the south pole. This last is however highly improbable, because being found about 23° from the pole, it is hardly credible that it would occupy so extensive a region as to embrace the pole, and, perhaps extend as much farther beyond; especially as in similar latitudes in the opposite hemisphere, navigation is comparatively free, and has been pushed even to more than 80° of north latitude.

The scientific, as well as the commercial world, will wait with no small impatience for the termination of the two grand arctic expeditions, which are among the most original and daring, and may be among the most interesting and momentous hitherto undertaken by man.

FOOTNOTES:[1]I trust the public will pardon me for stating, that various scientific friends, despairing of the revival of the Journal of Dr. Bruce, had, for some time, pressed me to undertake the editing of a Journal of Science. Considerations of personal friendship prevented me from listening to such proposals till the decline of Dr. Bruce's health, attended by the most alarming symptoms, rendered it very obvious that his Journal would not be revived. Towards the close of last November, in a personal interview, I communicated to him the design of the present work, at the same time offering to waive it, provided he considered it as probable that his own Journal would be resumed. Of this, however, he gave no encouragement; but, on the contrary, expressed his warm approbation of my undertaking, authorized me to consider him as a contributor, and to make public use of his name as a patron. It was not till after this that the annunciation of this work took place; and it is certain that had not all hope of the resumption of Dr. Bruce's Journal been completely cut off,thiswould not have appeared.[2]The efforts of Stephen Elliott, Esq. of South Carolina, in regard to the botany of the Southern States, are particularly worthy of imitation and praise.[3]From the MS. papers of the Connecticut Academy, now published by permission.[4]See Kollmann's Harmony, p. 13, &c.[5]Tilloch's Phil. Mag. Vol. XXVIII. p. 140.[6]The propriety of making 25 : 36 the true ratio of the 5th will be manifest, when it is considered that this is the value of that interval as sounded by voices and perfect instruments; when the 3ds which compose it are made perfect. This interval, as found in the scale which has the fewest tempered concords possible referred to at the beginning of this essay, ought to be regarded as the true 5th, flattened by a comma, in the same manner as one of its component 3ds will be allowed by all to be flattened.[7]The propriety of this limitation will be manifest, when we consider that in organ music, the chords are generally played more full, and are more protracted, than in music for other keyed instruments. It is harmony which constitutes its character, in a higher degree than in music for other instruments. Hence the harmony of the organ ought not to be impaired by including in our computations any music not adapted to it. If a similar examination of music for the piano-forte would afford a set of results essentially different from those of this proposition, this is no proof that it ought to have any concern in a system of temperament designed primarily for the organ, but merely that the same temperament cannot be equally adapted to different instruments. If, as is probable, such an examination would give essentially the same results, to introduce them would be superfluous.[8]The smaller works of Phillips and Aikin were not then published; had they been, they could not have superseded Cleaveland; the same may be said of the respectable work of Professor Kidd, of Oxford University.[9]A vast region in the interior of New-York and Pennsylvania is now fertilized by inexhaustible beds of sulphat of lime, (plaster of Paris,) which, till a very few years since, were not even known to exist.Near New-Haven immense beds of green marble were discovered in 1811, during a mineralogical excursion: this beautiful material, closely resembling theverd antique, is now, on the spot, wrought into tables, fireplaces, and many other ornamental forms; and although the farmers had made fences of it for 150 years, no one suspected what it was till the study of mineralogy, in Yale College, brought it to light.[10]See Tilloch's Phil. Mag. Vol. XLII. p. 182.[11]In the Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia this plant is called limosella tenuifolia.[12]No return of this tree was made from Brunswick. The date of the cherry-tree is therefore substituted, which is usually in blossom at the same time.[13]Mr. Correa de Serra, Minister of the King of Portugal.[14]Communicated by a friend at Paris.[15]See Transactions of the Connecticut Academy, and Bruce's Journal, Vol. I. p. 199.

[1]I trust the public will pardon me for stating, that various scientific friends, despairing of the revival of the Journal of Dr. Bruce, had, for some time, pressed me to undertake the editing of a Journal of Science. Considerations of personal friendship prevented me from listening to such proposals till the decline of Dr. Bruce's health, attended by the most alarming symptoms, rendered it very obvious that his Journal would not be revived. Towards the close of last November, in a personal interview, I communicated to him the design of the present work, at the same time offering to waive it, provided he considered it as probable that his own Journal would be resumed. Of this, however, he gave no encouragement; but, on the contrary, expressed his warm approbation of my undertaking, authorized me to consider him as a contributor, and to make public use of his name as a patron. It was not till after this that the annunciation of this work took place; and it is certain that had not all hope of the resumption of Dr. Bruce's Journal been completely cut off,thiswould not have appeared.

[2]The efforts of Stephen Elliott, Esq. of South Carolina, in regard to the botany of the Southern States, are particularly worthy of imitation and praise.

[3]From the MS. papers of the Connecticut Academy, now published by permission.

[4]See Kollmann's Harmony, p. 13, &c.

[5]Tilloch's Phil. Mag. Vol. XXVIII. p. 140.

[6]The propriety of making 25 : 36 the true ratio of the 5th will be manifest, when it is considered that this is the value of that interval as sounded by voices and perfect instruments; when the 3ds which compose it are made perfect. This interval, as found in the scale which has the fewest tempered concords possible referred to at the beginning of this essay, ought to be regarded as the true 5th, flattened by a comma, in the same manner as one of its component 3ds will be allowed by all to be flattened.

[7]The propriety of this limitation will be manifest, when we consider that in organ music, the chords are generally played more full, and are more protracted, than in music for other keyed instruments. It is harmony which constitutes its character, in a higher degree than in music for other instruments. Hence the harmony of the organ ought not to be impaired by including in our computations any music not adapted to it. If a similar examination of music for the piano-forte would afford a set of results essentially different from those of this proposition, this is no proof that it ought to have any concern in a system of temperament designed primarily for the organ, but merely that the same temperament cannot be equally adapted to different instruments. If, as is probable, such an examination would give essentially the same results, to introduce them would be superfluous.

[8]The smaller works of Phillips and Aikin were not then published; had they been, they could not have superseded Cleaveland; the same may be said of the respectable work of Professor Kidd, of Oxford University.

[9]A vast region in the interior of New-York and Pennsylvania is now fertilized by inexhaustible beds of sulphat of lime, (plaster of Paris,) which, till a very few years since, were not even known to exist.Near New-Haven immense beds of green marble were discovered in 1811, during a mineralogical excursion: this beautiful material, closely resembling theverd antique, is now, on the spot, wrought into tables, fireplaces, and many other ornamental forms; and although the farmers had made fences of it for 150 years, no one suspected what it was till the study of mineralogy, in Yale College, brought it to light.

Near New-Haven immense beds of green marble were discovered in 1811, during a mineralogical excursion: this beautiful material, closely resembling theverd antique, is now, on the spot, wrought into tables, fireplaces, and many other ornamental forms; and although the farmers had made fences of it for 150 years, no one suspected what it was till the study of mineralogy, in Yale College, brought it to light.

[10]See Tilloch's Phil. Mag. Vol. XLII. p. 182.

[11]In the Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia this plant is called limosella tenuifolia.

[12]No return of this tree was made from Brunswick. The date of the cherry-tree is therefore substituted, which is usually in blossom at the same time.

[13]Mr. Correa de Serra, Minister of the King of Portugal.

[14]Communicated by a friend at Paris.

[15]See Transactions of the Connecticut Academy, and Bruce's Journal, Vol. I. p. 199.

[16]ERRATUM.In the text this Article was, by inadvertence, numbered XIX, and all the succeeding Articles of this Number are markedtwohigher than they ought to be.

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