Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1873-03-30

n ~ York Tribune states that the curlc slty-
Sc ,kers who hlppsned into oae of the
Pennsylvania, second hand bookstores,
wednesday afternoon, March 26, noticed
upon the shelves some of the latest dOou-
ments printed BY order of Congress, across
the back of which were written with pen
the wori &c lldw H." Mr.. C4l1wel's re-
signatioa took place two days previous.
--~ ~--
BURNING WATER FOR FUEL AND
LIGHT.
The New York Herald says in its issue
of March %: "Applied science has recently
added to tn g est Inventions of the
day process for tXtrsctiT e fuel from water.
The author Of this process, Mr. Ruck, an
English practical chemist, has realized the
old dream OF scientists that the exhaust
less heating power stored ia water may
be actually employed for mechanical and
domestic purposes. This brilliant idea,
which, it is claimed, enables tn inventor 10
set the Thames on fire, has Tee success
fully tested aud developed il the large works
on the banks of the river near BSttersea
Park. and the process which it originated
is extremely simple anu easily put IN prac-
tice.
stOrdinary steam is brought through a
pipe from one o. the boilers of an engine,
and is allowed 10 pass through a red-hot
horseshoe shaped tube, reposing 10 fierce
ly burning furnace. While 10 this tube the
steam is superheated, so that its oxygen
and hydrogen are ready TO dissolve their 81
lance, and afterwards il is forced into a re-
tort filed with in andescent coke and iron
fragments. Tee oxygen is left behind aud
forms with the iron scales OF black rust, the
hydrogen passes freely through the red re-
tort, aud when certain sulphurous vapors
have been diseDgaged from the residual gas
there comes forth the cheating gas" super
emineutly suited for all caloriic purposes,
where heat without light is demanded. 1t
is admirably adap-ed for all kinds of stores
and steam engine boilers.
The cost of the gas st the works is found
10 be only seven pence iSbOuS forty centsl
for thousand cubicfeet, and this quantity
would boil about fifty gallons Of cold water
This cost, it is said, eau be reduced By
using the waste heat of The retort supplied
by an independent boiler.
"The distinctive feature of the RucE
process for making the new fuel gas is IN
the decomposition of the superheated flame
by means of coke and iron, which remain
for long perio s in the retort without re
curing change. Combined with this is
heating gas for purposes of illumination
This is done by making it pass through oil
from which its CARBON is received, and
whence it issues an excellent gas, equal IL
Illuminating power TO sixteen candles for a
consumption of five cubic feet per hour in
an Argaad burner. The cost Of the gas, al
used for light, is a tri1e less THAI 80 cents
per thousand cubic feet.
"This invention, if fully developed, Wi
set ST rest the uueasiness on the coal cues
zion and work a world wide revolution IL
the cost of fuel and light for all purposes.
Either the New York Herald and Lon
don Times, which give currency to th
above statements, are well informed G
they are not. If well informed, they knoV
that the force which separates oxygen an
hydrogen, as they exist in water, can DC
be increased by burning hydrogen an
thereby forming water precisely like thu
decompounded. Nothing in science is be-
ter settled than the fact that sction and r:
. aclon are the same. That We can not, b
raising 100 pounds fifty feet on a pulle!
make it raise 101 pounds on the other sid
of the pulley fifty feet, as the 100 pound
066C5uu W JliC cal III W Si0NASatAOAAs ~ -
tain this result, the gravity or force of 10
pounds must exceed that of 10l pound
which is an absurd assumption. Whe
man shall be able 20 create from nothing
pint of wafer, he will probably be able
increase the force that will cause this ne'
water to fall to The earth in rain. L
will also be able TO diminish the afinit
that holds the atoms of oxygen aud hydr
gen together in the form OF water. If 8
the water in the Atlantic ocean we're mac
on tbs principle that one pound Of for
will deeompCse ten pounds Of water, al
ten pounds of water in returning to i
first condition, will create from nOthiI
nine pounds of new force, then Mr.. Ruck
f'invention" is something infinitely above
perpetual motion. The power to crea
by chemical meaQs at his command, an u
limited force from all the water on th
planet, aud thereby dispose Of ''the CO
question" aud Of a thousand Others, max
Enau at once the annihila.or Of gravity, al
the creator Of affinity. Introduce such
power into the universe, and i. trembles
the balance of a new Creator. If the III
verse had two creators, one to give eXis
ence TO $ll matter, and the other to all IL
properties and functions of matter, wi
can say which is the higher creative energ.
Water is nothing more than hydroga
already burnt. To burn water 9 seco1
time Tor prods is precisely like burning col
of wood which has just been burnt to ashe
IL water can be burnt twice at a profit,
may be a million times, aud 50 may coal al
fre-wood. We have seen corn and Whea
ground by stream of electricity, and BY
drogen burnt to boil water for tea and co
fee, as experiments; bus there was no ecol
omy in the operation. Mans power to pU
comp Dand substances apart, sud put the
together again in new forms aud eondi.ior
is very considerable, but in all such doiuI
pothiug is created, neither Of force or ma
ter. These remarks do not apply TO Il
economy of the new Illuminating gas mat
mainly from refuse carbon left in purify
burning fluids for lamps. Such caTbl
ought to he utilized, and vastly more tt
is wasted.
WE learn from Official reports that du
ing the year 1872 over ten million sew
SGp1 fF1Tl IL