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Article SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE. ← Page 2 of 4 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Scientific Intelligence.
EXTINGUISHING FIRES . THE frequency of fires in America has turned the attention of the inhabitants of those parts to precautions and means of preventing them . The Charlestown Gazette of the 2 d Feb . recommends the smoke of gunpowder as an effectual extinguisher of fire . The powder is to be reduced by water to the standard of a very quick match , and under the
conveyed in a frying-pan , or any thing having a handle , blaze . HOUSE PAINTING . AN ingenious artist of the city of Chichester is said to have discovered and brought to perfection a substitute for linseed oil , which
does not cost more than half the price , and saves two thirds of the colour , on account of its having great body . This may be called a discovery of great importance to house-painting , such a substitute being long " wished for ,, and till now sought in vain .
VEGETATION . SOME curious experiments , which promise important benefits to mankind , have lately been made by Sir Francis Ford , to determine whether oxygene or vital air has' any effe & s upou vegetation , different from common atmospheric air . It was found by repeated trials , -that flowers and other plants sprinkled with water , that had
been previously impregnated with oxygene gas , grew much mo . re vigorously , and even displayed more beautiful tints than similar plants on the same ground treated with common water . The water was impregnated by a very simple process—bottles filled with water * were inverted over a common pneumatic apparatus , and oxygene gas introducedtill a third or fourth part of the water was displaced : the
bot-, tles beiii < r then stopped , were agitated for some time , till it was believed the water had taken up all the gas that it could receive . We know not whether the residuum of the gas has yet been submitted to any test , to determine whether it undergoes a change by being thus washed by the water ; but , no doubt the subject will receive that attention which it merits from those who have the means
and opportunity of repeating and following out the experiments . These experiments are the more interesting , as they carry consequences along with them which seem to stand directly opposed to the inferences drawn by Dr . Priestley , from the experiments he made on vegetables , inclosed in atmospheres that contained no oxygene , or but very little . These seemingly contradictory results may , perhaps , be
hereafter reconciled and accounted for , from the different ages and other circumstances of the plants experimented upon . In the mean time , it appears to be a subject worthy of enquiry , what would be the best and easiest methods for impregnating water with oxygene ? or , which would be perhaps still better , what would be the best substance to be thrown upon land to enable it , or the moisture it con-Jains , tq absorb the greatest quantity of oxygene from the atmosphere ?
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Scientific Intelligence.
EXTINGUISHING FIRES . THE frequency of fires in America has turned the attention of the inhabitants of those parts to precautions and means of preventing them . The Charlestown Gazette of the 2 d Feb . recommends the smoke of gunpowder as an effectual extinguisher of fire . The powder is to be reduced by water to the standard of a very quick match , and under the
conveyed in a frying-pan , or any thing having a handle , blaze . HOUSE PAINTING . AN ingenious artist of the city of Chichester is said to have discovered and brought to perfection a substitute for linseed oil , which
does not cost more than half the price , and saves two thirds of the colour , on account of its having great body . This may be called a discovery of great importance to house-painting , such a substitute being long " wished for ,, and till now sought in vain .
VEGETATION . SOME curious experiments , which promise important benefits to mankind , have lately been made by Sir Francis Ford , to determine whether oxygene or vital air has' any effe & s upou vegetation , different from common atmospheric air . It was found by repeated trials , -that flowers and other plants sprinkled with water , that had
been previously impregnated with oxygene gas , grew much mo . re vigorously , and even displayed more beautiful tints than similar plants on the same ground treated with common water . The water was impregnated by a very simple process—bottles filled with water * were inverted over a common pneumatic apparatus , and oxygene gas introducedtill a third or fourth part of the water was displaced : the
bot-, tles beiii < r then stopped , were agitated for some time , till it was believed the water had taken up all the gas that it could receive . We know not whether the residuum of the gas has yet been submitted to any test , to determine whether it undergoes a change by being thus washed by the water ; but , no doubt the subject will receive that attention which it merits from those who have the means
and opportunity of repeating and following out the experiments . These experiments are the more interesting , as they carry consequences along with them which seem to stand directly opposed to the inferences drawn by Dr . Priestley , from the experiments he made on vegetables , inclosed in atmospheres that contained no oxygene , or but very little . These seemingly contradictory results may , perhaps , be
hereafter reconciled and accounted for , from the different ages and other circumstances of the plants experimented upon . In the mean time , it appears to be a subject worthy of enquiry , what would be the best and easiest methods for impregnating water with oxygene ? or , which would be perhaps still better , what would be the best substance to be thrown upon land to enable it , or the moisture it con-Jains , tq absorb the greatest quantity of oxygene from the atmosphere ?