Jeffersonian Republican. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1840-1853, 1850-06-27

Z D.
Eds. Tribune
Among the great and wonderful discoveries and
inventions of the present age it is believed there
Is not one so nearly approaching the miraculous
or so full of benifcent promise to mankind as that
which has recently been announced by Henry M.
Paine of Worchester, by which he is enabled al
most without expense or labor to produce, from
pure water, constant and most brilliant light,
and by which he can produce heat and motive
power to any desired extent-thus essentially su-
persedlng the necessity of using the ordinary ma
terals for the accomplishment of those purposes
and TO great extent the vast expenses which
the use of those materials involve. The reality
and practical utility of Mr.. Paines discovery and
invention, so far at least as the production of
light is concerned--and perhaps the same may be
said of heat also--have been most fully and satis
factorily tested. The principle, applied as pre-
scribed, nfallibly produces the promised results;
so that the time may be regarded as not distant
when the whole may securely sport in his native
ocean, when the coal beds of the earth may rest
forever undisturbed, and the forest, whose end
was to be burned may be said to have outlived
their doom.
Presuming that your readers may feel some in
terest in knowing the processes by which Mr..
PaiEe has arrived at the important results which
he has announced, submit for their information
the following brief history of his experiments,
which have learned from himself.
In the course of some experiments which, in
connection with the late Col. Bomford of the Ord
nance Department, Mr. Paine was making in the
winter Of l844-5 for the purpose of precipitating
slick, In solution, by the action of electricity, he
became satisfied that so long as the whole body Of
water around the poles remained conductive or
diffusive medium, the action of the passing cur
rents would be limited, and the results desired
attainable. With this view of the subject he
sought for some method by which the atoms Of
water in contact with the poles could be effectu-
ally barred from communication with any conduct
ing substance, and yet admit of a continual sup
ply of the water TO be decomposed.
Holding to the doctrine of imponderability and
immateraty of the electric fluid, all efforts to ac
complish the desired results failed, and the exper
iment was about to be abandoned, when a doubt
TO the truth of the books on the nature of cleo
tricilY. arose in his mind and on the faint hope
thus suggested the experiments were renewed,
and the results more than realized his most cher
ished anticipations-for not only was the insula-
ton of the water perfect, and the decomposition
rapid, but the electric fluid was found to be sus-
ceptible of accumulation and condensation to an
unlimited degree. The ease and Iapidty with
which the water was resolved into its component
gases, naturally suggested the idea applying the
discovery to some practical use, and that of light
was selected as the most simple and inexpensive
in its application. But on the very threshold of
the experiment an apparently insurmountable OBJ
stacle was met, in the inability TO separate the
gases and after a number of serious explosions
he was induced by the entreates of his family,
for time to desist
But although his practical experiments were
suspended, his mental action on the subject was
not. During the fall of lS48, he came TO the con-
clusion that the law which demanded an aqueous
communication between the poles, or that the pos
tive and negative poles should both enter one bo-
dy of water, was not correct-a conclusion which
a very simple experiment demonstrated as true
One pole was inserted into glass of water in the
corner Of large room, and the other pole in an
other glass in the opposite corner, and an electric
made between them. All the wa
ter in one glass was decomposed, and hydrogen
only obtained. All the water was decomposed in
the other, and oxygen only obtained. The ex-
pertinent being thus entirely successful small
electro magnetic apparatus, having its helices
kept in motion by clock work was put in operation
at Mr. Paines house, and was found capable of
supplying three burners with an abundance of the
gases. At this period, Mr.. Paine publicly an
nounced the discovery, and invited the citizens to
call and examine for themselves.
In the Spring of 1849, Mr.. P. erected light
house on an eminence in Worcester, and there
tried his experiments on large scale
for several months. He also lighted one of the
stores in the city, which presented most brilliant
exhibition, exciting the admiration and astonish-
ment of all who witnessed it.
The experiments at the lighthouse were con-
.inued till September, when explosion occurred
which monentarily clouded the bright prospects
Of the discovery. This explosion is thus accoun
led for. That state or action of electricity known
as galvanism, produces decomposition, while that
known intensity repulsion to take place at
he electrodes, and dehagration of the decompos-
ing cell is the consequent result. 1t was to this
action that the explosion referred to was due, the
gases being fred by the melting electrode. tt
was hence apparent that some method should be
devised, other than that of personal observance,
agent that caused the danger must be made to re-
move it. But here was formidable difficulty,
and to surmount it required long and patient la
Dor. The object, however, was attained, and the
apparatus made to govern itself by the braking OF
he circuits when surplussage is passing SO that
he danger of an explosion is entirely removed
1t is not at present practicable to get into min
ite description OF Mr.. Paine's apparatus. Sufii
,ient to say, that the descent of a weight 81
pounds distance OF feet, will generate 500 Gu /
bic feet of the gases from quart or two OF water
being suficinet to light hall of the largest size
or a whole evening, and at no other expense than
he interest of the cost of the apparatus. which |
nav be some 800 or $500. And the gases may
% used as has already been suggested not
,nly for light but, for power and for heating pur-
)oses The apparatus, constructed for the supply /