New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1853-02-11

but i, Is presented TO US By nature only as
eas-as matter already attenusted 20 snlsa
degree: and compared 10 wstG, It's capacity
for further dilatation may be likeDed TO the
mere drippings Of large vessel just erip'ied'
The amount of expansion accompanying the
change of solids into liquids is comparatively
so very small that il has not been thossn' o.
for 3 mechanical mover, Ror Is II hAeiy 70 ",
unless under very peculiar circumstances anu
10 very limited purposes. IL Is IN the euanse
of LIQUIDS into gases that our great sources Vi
e,napsive power are TO be found. and IRON
which the greatest power yet realized has come,
From the abundance Of water, It's general di-
fusion. and the means all people possess OF
readily converting il into yaPOr, and OF res'or-
ing thi. back to a liquid, we should hesitate 10
assert that steam can be entirely dispensed
with. though some Of our modes OF employing
il NAV become essentially modified IL Is re-
markable also for presenting the advantages oil
eollapsiou and expansion within practicaI I'm
its No other agent within our reach equals II
in these important respects; and wnle We
have pretty fairly availed ourselves of the lat
ter property, We have something to accomplish
as respects the former We yet want the
means of a quick and complete condensation
Of steam. a. well as for the instant decomposi-
ton Of air
As already remarked. water in vaporizng
increases its volume over seventeen hundred
fold. while the same degree Of heat applied 70
air would not so much as double its volume
Still. air has advantages Of its own. As me-
chanical and even general motor, II oners
stronger inducements than its limited exPan-
sion. 1t is highly elastic and compresslole'
qualities exemphfed in air-guns aud IN pneu'
matte and hydraulic apparatus, Then 1t Is
everywhere: il is above US ard PUSHES into
every vessel and channel open to receive IT,
while on the other hand water is under our
feet and what we require We have 70 llts. In
it's superintendent weight or pressure air OIL
fers a reliable and ever present source OF as-
tive power. while its very tenuity facilitates
the means for exciting that pressure.
OF course there are other modes of calling
il into action besides filling the cylinders with
low steam and liQuifying it by cold jet as by
admitting vapor of turpentine, whisky, &C.
&c. with sufficient air to render the mixture
e1plosive-on the principle that camphene
cans and lamps explode, which they never 90
and cannot without containing large proper
ton of air-or by charging the cylinders Who'll
Is with gas that by explosion is collapsible into
a fraction of the space it fills. But THE de-
stratum is to be able to use the air itseii-lt Is
always at hand. costs nothing and enters OF its
own accord, and when the means OF It's quick,
cheap and perfect decomposition are attained,
everything is attained. With chemical philo-
,ophers this point is worthy of the best efforts
of the best Of them. Something has been
done, but much is yet wanting. As air consists
of four volumes Of nitrogen 10 one oil oxygen,
had We better means than areyet knownquickly
20 absorb OF withdraw the former, We should
/ have tolerably fair working vacuum that might
be used till a total exhaustion or decompoS-
ton were accomplished. But enough for the
present We may take up the subject again.
AS respects inventions and discoveries in
this line, as well as other desderata of high
national interest in physical science, how de-
sirable is it that Board Of competent officers
to test their value and application should be
organized by the Government and the requi-
site experiments be made at its expense; or a
department of Mechanical science for the pur-
pose might be added TO the Smithsonian Insti.
tute, and thus enlist it in the solution Of the
mighty practical problems of the day. A
greater benefit could hardly be conferred on
the genius of Invention, nor one that would
result in more honor to the country and TO th'
age.