Daily State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1864-12-23

Water Is paradoxical and contradictory 10 lie
outward and apparent qualities. IL is at once
hard and soft. yielding and resisting. IL gives
vay, when permtted1 20 do so, With marvellous
facility. The slightest and lightest substance
dropped opon his admitted 20 its embrace, 10
strict accordance and proportion to lis deserts and
its density. So small a substance a grain OF
sand is allowed 70 find rs natural place at the
bottom. A hydrostatic or water-bed is the easiest
Of couches. so easy. in fact, that some iuvalids
cannot bear its excessive pliancy and complete
Z sisptstion 20 tue form Of The sleeper. Heuce
the notion oil Descartes and others. that TO e1-
plain the phenomena of water its ultimate parti-
Giles must be oblong. smooth and herible. lying
one upon another. like eels iE tub.
But water of given temperature, confined,
IL Of astounding hardness; il Is as good as in
compressible at that temperature. for what is q
reduction VI from forty four to nifty eight mil
louth parts OF It's volume under pressure equal
20 that of the atmospherel Many solid matters
wood for instance--can be squeezed into q
much smaller than their original bulk: the pack
er's art has attained wonderful perfection in in
elosine mach IN Htie space. but all the Queen 5
horses aud all the Queens men cannot put a
qGart of water INTO pint bottle; the cleverest
packer in Londan which v saving great deal)
cannot economic the room of a table spoonful.
You could sooner drive nail into a solid cube
OF steel than you could drive one into cube of
water epclosed 10 perfectly unyieldiug box. Ii
il the unsqueezability of water which gives It's
enormous strength to the hydraulic press. The
hardness OF water may be felt by striking its sur
face smartly with the open hand: the quality Il
also known 20 unfortunate swimmers, who. in
tending "a p;tch into the water headforemost fall
fat on their stomachs instead.
Pure water is at its greatest density or heaviest
and most contracted. az four degrees centigrade
Ito avoid fracfions), or exactly thirty nine de-
grees OF Fahrenheit that Is, ut seven degrees
above the freezing point; but il the temperature
changes, either way, the water expand. From
the maximum density up to the boiling point
the expansion amounts To the four -hundredth
part Gifts volume--a mere nothing. Ii IL COO
below is maximum density, IL still expands VI
10 the freezing point. Consequently water which
is near the poIot OF freezing Is lighter than water
that - only just 4 tfife warmer. 10, therefore
rises and floats the surface, allowing th'
warmer stratum OF water to sink. Rivers ant
lakes. therefore. freeze from the top downward
(Which would not happen were the density o
water 20 Increase With increasing cold. and tn
Gsb aud water weeds remain uninjured. Wer
the case Otherwise than il is---if our streams AM
pools fsoxe from the bottom-in long continues
fsosts they would become solid blocks Of ice
aquatic plants and animals would perish. and
even in cases of partial freezing, the thsw ant
the return To normal state Of things would b.
much acre tfyis tian onder existing eircum
stances Water still further expands at its con
version into ice. bnt with that we have nothing L
do, Ice Is not water, and with water alone "
are dealing at present. .tss-
Colder than the freezing point water Is ice
hotter than the boiling point water il steam
But not long since the Comte Henri Russell. ai
ter encOunlering ifty degrees Of cold in Asiati
Shorthand mercury freezing at forty eight de
grees-hid to bear fifty degrees OF heat in An
stralia. When We remember that water eyapo
rates rapidly at a teufpersture Far below th,
boiling point, We see at once what transltory
fleeing. changelul thing il is. While we ar,
looking at il, IL is gone; before we can seize il
il slips through our fingers. Indeed. accordin.
20 Boyle aud others. water is crystal melting
att low temperature, whose normal condition /
that of ice: in other words, water Is an unnatu
raj state OF ice; whenever il is not il ought u
be ice Heat dss0yes ice into water just as /
dissoives butter into OIL. Butter and ice. never
theIesS. are the proper forms for those liquids 4
appear in. ss
Pure water il protoxide of hydrogen /; j
hydrogen rusted, and that thoroughly aud com
pletely, as much as iron rust Is oxide Of iron
only the rusting Is done instantaneOusly instead
Of gradually. Here again we have two separate
plradOxes in one. Firstly. hydrogen is th
lightest form of matter known. except the ethe
which we don't know Two volumes of thi
gen, gas only trife heavier than air, form
fluid whose weight We have Just been wonder
ing at Secondly, oxygen Is eminenty the sus
tanner OF combustion. the life and soul Of fire
aud hydrogen Is the combustbe which illumi
mates our cities, warns our apartments, cook
our food, and kills psby its ill.tined explosions
Aud yes these two together constitute the agen
which we daily employ, on the smallest and tn
largest scale. to extngush FIRE Verify, ther,
are more things in heaven and earth than wer,
dreamt of. in Shakspehre's days. Ia bis philoso
ply.
When The scornful mother launched the taun
at her son. That he never would set the Thames
on FIRE" and the lad muttered candlestek il
haul. Il IN blessed If don try.'' he more
in the right than ms preiudiced parent Tn,
Thames may be set on fre-although not with
tallOw candle-and burnt. IL is a question. no
OF possibility. but OF purssstrngs Water car
be separated into its two constituent gases
(which IS an analytical proof Of what il is made
and the hydrogen used for lighting purposes
An experimental apparatus has been worked al
the Invalides, Paris. and is working still; bat
The problem Of producing gas from water. at
marketable price. We; remains unsolved. The
process and its attendant essays, are not open &c
public inspection: for voracious plsgiarists and
pAtentees would Pounce upon cheap water gai
the moment il Was inventei.-An the Yeai