Weekly national intelligencer., 1851-05-03
NATIONAL INTELLIGENCER.

NATIONAL INTELLIGENCER.
Some Thoughts on the alleged Discovery 81 mr..
HENRY M PAINE, of Worcester, MdssachuselS,
and fe,o suggesfions as to the true ods's q
Nature, or principles Of Natural Cause.
Messrs. GALES & sEATos,
Editors of the National htelIgeneer
GEsrIrsEs When Mr.. PAIsE, about the middle OF last
year. first announced his method OF generating gas rom wa
ter through the insumen,ality Of electricity, ventured
somewhat boldly and perhaps mpudeny, through the
lumns of the to countenance the dea and
N contend on scientific grounds for its probability its pos
sbty and ts pracicability. In sustaining the view then
presented stated first what every knew, ought to
have known that the constituents Of water highly in
ammable second that these constituents had been dsen-
gagged at different times, in some considerable quantities.
through the of electricity, long prior to Mr. Paines
anipulaons third, that exceedingly small quantity Of
any and every substantive matter contained sufficient por
ton of the electrical principle TO generate force Of almost
ncaIcuabe powers and, fourth, that there were certain lead
ing principles Of natural cause, lying at the base Of physical
science, which the genius Of gradually developing
and the ingenuity of gradually applying that were
rapidly tending unfold series OF philosophical con
cepton and establish order Of mechanical invention
In many respects to all received rule, and destned
the earth resounds into its funeral chant Il seemed to me
that there sufficient in these positions which
assumed, and which explained somevka detail, to war
rant me in speaking word Of encouragement. to Mr.
Paine notwithstanding the public journals for the pa
denounced him mposto and almost every one OF any
very exalted science in the country dscounte-
nanced if indeed be did directly declare the whole affair
as alike improbable and impaccabe During the last month
or subject has been again reopened by the press and
have thought might not be altogether out Of place for me
again to indulge in few remarks topic Of much ap-
parent interest to the public.
Judging from the statements contained in the New York
Herald" the Boston Chronoype," and other journals it ap
pears now that Mr. Paine has beyond all cav invented me-
thod applying the electrical magnetic agent as to emi.
from its constituent parts and then Of the
hydrogen all with sufficient celebrity and in sufficient quantity
prove the entire pacicaby Of conducting the process
render it subservien to the common wants o. lie. he
has patented his inventions and the principle may be consi
dered fairly established We may therefore pass from this
point to much more Important and interesting feature, pre-
scented in the asserted fact incidentally arrived at BY him in
reaching the conclusion that be converts width parts
evolved from water into either hydrogen oxygen into
both II this true, but be regarded involving
higher principle than the practical result however conse-
quential that may be. Over singular phenomenon we
are led to pause and ask ourselves seriously the question:
the elements Of Nature not few and simple, perhaps not
exceeding three in a which, combining together, on the
principle Of the theory of aoms that Of Volumes IN Sc
es Of infinite progression, give rise to all forms and combi
nations Of material whatever Pardon me for say
ing that this view presented BY me as long ago as the
year 1887 and afterwards repeated in lecture delivered be-
fore the National Institute Washington in the year ls43
1914, when the scientific gentlemen Of country assem-
bed there in general meeting And since this last date
sonng particularly from six established premises viz.
FIRST the coincidence Of the magnetic pole with the point Of
intensest co established by Sir John Franklin second the
coincidence Of the sothenic lines with the magnetic lines
the earh established by Sir David Brewster third, the
densaon Of they approach the set forth by
Arago 1881 fourth the analysis and properties Of light
exhibited in the solar spectrum fh the experiments
electricity, in illustration Of its force, character, and quantity
by Faraday and Henry and SIXTH the general principles
effects Of caorc however eicitedI have been strengthened
and confirmed the positions thus early assumed and pre-
scented by If to these extraordinary and general
facts permitted the privilege Of adding truth, the
singular result incidentally reached by Mr. Paine and con
der il in reference to the principles Of acnism and catasi,
to cav that theory advanced and advocat-
cd by me, maintaining simple and unmxed trinity Of ma
turai cause.
the reasoning embraced these leading conclusions
together with the considerations involved in the positions first
mentioned above which, in July last in the communications
referred having been published in the Pennylvanan
the subject Of the Paine light and in despite Of all the
opposition Of the press and Of certain gentlemen associated
with gas companies and colleges in New York and Boston,
led assert that the progress of electrical science had for
years past enabled the phosophc mind to oresee the
ta result said have been reached by Mr. Paine, and that
many considerations cooperated in its favor In those COM
municaons remarked that the of science often
permitted truth long before that truth realized
practically. and illustrated this remark by nstancng the fact
that Sir Isaac Newton reasoning merely from the reaciive
powers Of water unbestangy pronounced that fluid to be
composed of nammable materials and time when nothing
known Of its constituent parts and mankind only
gaded it the principle in Nature antagonstc to the prn-
cple o6re-a truth which analysis afterwards beautifully
verified, and presented rich offering to the memory Of
that great man.
The philosophical not always practical mani
pulator machinst Sometimes, it is hue we find the
qualities necessary each combined in But it more
frequently happens that the educes principle and the
other reduces it to practice For useful purposes the two are
mutually dependant The rule be given by the one
its application be made by the other 1t rarely hap
pens that the of the laboratory the genius who
originates, although he promote and unfold the
cepions Of genius claim, however, be neither the
the other although the investigation Of science has
pied Of my time perhaps than any other subject and
love for the sake Of its beauty and its truth But reasoning
from general principles in connexon with what already
known, lido hesitate assert here, what have hereto