Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1873-04-16
The Combustion Of Water.

Water IL product OF combustion, like
any other oxide. 1t is scientifically as
absurd to expect gain Of heat from the
decomposition and recombinstion of its
elements, hydrogen and oxygen, as to cx-
pect similar gain from reducing sulphuric
acid 10 sulphur, and burning the sulphur
again to sulphuric acid. In all such op-
erations (supposing them to be complete,
as in pratice they never are, aud to in
volvo no accidental leakages of heat). the
heat absorbed in the decomposition is
equal to the heat generated by the recon-
position. If it were not so, per'eturI
motors would be possible, Sir John Her.
schel, in his Lecture on The Stadyof nal
urat philosophy, adduced this point in H.
lustraticn OF the first of his four "Advan.
tages Of Scientific Knowledge" namely
"iu showing us how to avoid attempting
impossiblities." He said;
THE smelling Of iron requires the ap.
plication of the most violent heat that
eau be raised, and is comm only performed
in tall furnaces urged by great iron bel.
lows driven by steam engines. Instead
Of employing this power to force air into
the furnace through the intervention Of
bellows it was on one occasion to employ
the steam itself in apparently much loss
circutous manner, viz, by directing the
current Of steam in a violent blast from
the boiler at once in the fire. From one
of the known Ingredients Of steam being
"a highly inAaumable oody [hydrogenl
and the other [oIygenl that essential par
of air which supports combustion, it was
imagined that this would have the eifec
of increasing the fire to ten fold fury
whereas it simply 6lew ii out: a resul
which slight consideration of the law
of chemical combination. and the state il
which the ingredient elements exist il
steam, would have enabled any one tt
predict without a trial."
The comparatively new science Of ther
mics, based upon the great discovery o
the mechanical equivalent of heat, ant
the conservation Of energy, enables us tt
calculate exactly the maximum of hea
produced by combustion under variou
conditions aud entirely confirms the re
suits of all experiments in burning water
Yet this absurdity continually crops ou
among inventors aud charlatans and
is curious illustration Of the general ig
norancc of science among "liberally" ed
ucated men, that such nonsense finds ere ]
ulous ears. Only week ago, tho Ne'
York Herald devoted congratulator
editorial to new English discovery,
by which the evils of scarcity of Goa
in Great Britain are to be done away
This remarkable process in conductiD
steam to a retort, containg incand escer
coke and iron. These take up the oxyge
of steam, aaa by the hydrogen. escaping
is subsequently burned with intens
heat There is absolutely no tbeoretlct
possibility Of gain in heat by this pre-
cess and as for saving in coal, whe
we consider that coal is required to max
coke, iron and steam, the substitution {
this new fuel is as about as reasonable O
to burn furniture because wood is scarce
or, according to the famous anccdote
the housekeeping batchclcr, order toa'
| beccuse there is no bread in the honse.
! Simultaneously there is shout OF tr
umph from SanFrancisco, where stoc
company has been formed, to exploit
similar novelty. Here, also a steam jet
to be decomposed, and the hydrogen to
5 be burned with immense Advantage. An
a savont in Salt Lake City caps the el
! max with an argument to show that Il