The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1877-03-28
HIDDEN FIRE.
sonae sctentiHc Theories of Spontaneous
combustion.

The following from the New York Specta-
ter for March should possess considerable in
tereSt br such persons as have no knowledge
of the science of chemistry and who do not
understand that all material substances con-
tain store OF latent or undeveloped heat:
Doubtless there are many instances OF
spontaneous combustion on record which
are yet unsolved, aud which never will be
solved 10 the satisfaction OF all concerned
We do net pretend to explain these
mysteries, but simply To draw atten
ton to mistake we think often
made by those who imagine that high
temperature, or vast amount of hear,
is essential to produce spontaneous combus-
ton. We are apt TO forget there is such q
thing es latent heat discovered by Dr. Black
and described rs that portion of the mat
Ter Of heat which ma es no sensible addition
TO the tenn perature of the bodies in which IL
exists" This latent undeveloped heat
unlike any known substance, lies hidden in
everything around us; il Is stored up till
we want il when the supply is forthcoming
ltnay seem strange to those who have not
thought much about il when we say on good
authority that there is heat in everything
even in ice. Or course the amount of latent
heat in different substances is not always
the same.
One or two familiar illustrations will
prove what we assert. M X sulphuric acid
and water, both cold, in certain proportions;
pour cold water on cold lime and in both
cases you have intense heat. We make nit
rate OF iron by combining nitric acid, water
and iron, all cold, and in a few seconds the
mixture will bolt and continue to boil in
the open air for 20 or 80 minutes. A black
smith beats or congresses the PARTICLES of
iron by his hammer, bringing out the latent
heat, and the iron is red hot Now where
does all this heat come fromif ii was not in
the acid, water. lime and iron7 Before they
came in contact with other substances the
heat was hidden, or not perceptible to our
senses, but was brought out when required.
Many things have their chemical consti.
tuition entirely changed by combination, and
in this change evolve large amount OF
heat. DIR. IRE says: Combustion is the
disengageme mt of heat and light which &C
companies chemical combination" Pro-
fessor Seeley says: The temperature of
ignition varies greatly for the different com
bustibes. The com bnstible nature of iron
lead, copper, silver and gold was not even
suspected until recent date. Heat always
accompanies the union OF oxygen with
another substance. In slow burning (oxida-
tion) the heat is simply diluted in time or
space" Three times Or. Jackson affirms that
he has set fire to charcoal at temperatures
below that of boiling water. Il once
laid a piece of fine round charcoal, hut
damp. on the top of a column stove TO dry,
directly beside a tin pan containing water,
which was not boiling and never did boil
there; took the charcoal off the stove and
laid il on the table; a short time afterward
found that il was on fire all through the
piece put 1t aside and IL burnt entirely to
ashes " Charcoal, il is vel known will ig-
mite IL stacked in large heaps Ar 'markable
case of spontaneous combustion occurred at
bennington, England, in May, 1872. A hair
mattress was supposed to be on kre. 1T
turned out, on examination, that there was
only thin covering of hair, the interior 4
the mattrg As being made up, amongst other
things. of roughly bremen flax and oak um,
substances only requiring the contact Of OIL
and lereese to ignite by themselves but
which could be ignited more quickly by such
an elevation of temperature as mere animal
heat" Mr.. Badderiy, in his report of The
Fires in London" for 1853. reports yet an
other bemarkable case at the residence of
Mr. Fletcher, in Manchester, vino on enter
ing his room one afternoon found the sofa
on fire. Having dragged IL in<o the yarl
and put out the fire that was burning in the
interior, he found the sofa had been filled
with cap bottoms and wooden nlaterials.
which, becoming somewhat greasy, had at
this low temperat IRE ignited. We are told
that the temperature of almost any room
in high enough to fire phosphorus
spontaneously, II IL is in finely
powdered Condition. After the great
fire at the custom house stores in Dui lin in
1888. witness testified that on the h1or
where the fire was first seen there we're
stored talIow, sumsc cork wood. furniture.
palm oil. cotton, WOOL junk and hemp"
all these were placed side by side without
any regard 20 their combustability. "rhe |
wool was near the Oil andfif cen rasks of |
taiiow were near the cotton. and yet The |
authorities wondered why there was q fire.
store there must be, latent heat there RI |
WAYS will. be. education of the right kind