West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1886-06-18


The surface, Smooths the waves. and
permits the light To reach them.
IL was a way with DR.. Franklin.
when he had observed any thing Curl
Gus, not To let it go until he had dis
covered the principle involved some
years elapsed. however. before he cot
light upon these curious facts. One
day, while living In the ncighborhood
OF London where there was a large
pond. he observed that the water was
violently agitatcd by the high wind
that WAS blowing. He brought.ouI Of
the house cruet of oil and dropped a
httle OF 1t on the water. The oil
spread over the surface with surprising
>wiitncss, but il did not smooth the
waves, because he had applied IL TO the
leoward sides, aud the wind drove the
oil back upon the shore.
Il then, ne continues, went To the
windward side where the waves began
to form, and there the oil. though not
more than tcaspoonful. produced AN
instant calm over space several wards
square, which spread amazingly and
extended itself gradually till IL reached
the lee side, making all that quarter
OF the pond, perhaps half an acre. a.
smooth as looking-glas>.
This was a very striking experiment
indeed, which confirmed all his prcvi-
Gus facts. though il did not explain
them. He was 80 much struck with il
that afterwards, whenever he went into
the country. hecarricd little oil i'm the
upper hollow Joint of hi, bamboo cane
with which To repeat the experiment as
opportunity offered The same result
constantly followed What surprised
HIM most was the wide extent of space
which single drop of oil would cover
and tho extreme rapiditv with which IL
spread. He placed drop of oil on
polished marble and ON plate glass. but
1t spread very little; while ON water il
spread I'M an instant many feet round.
and smoothcd the waves farther even
than the oil could be seen. Other fact,
were continually reported to him. lie
learned that shoals of herring were be-
trayed to the fishermen by the smooth
ness of the water over them, caused,
apparently, by the oil cNuding from
their bodies 4 Rhode Island gentle
man told him that The harbor of New
port was always smooth when the
whaling vessels were in IT, lie finally
arrived at this explanation:
The wind. blowing over water COW
N''A NAAll ~ ltilll VI biis Gan NOT tN~tlA
cdtch upon IL so as to raise the first
wrinkles, but slides over it and lcavcs
II smooth as it finds it,
He became at length well satisfied
that oil could be- utilized to sull the
tumultuou~ waves of the ocean. even
10 the saving of large ships otherwise
past help. Some years after he had
the satisfaction of knowing that the
experiment had been tried on q Dutch
ship, bound from Batavia To Amstnr-
dam In wearing the ship around near
lee shore, which was a matter of
great difficulty, the captain poured oil
over the tOaming sea. This at once
prevented the waves from break ing
luto the vessel, and contributed cs-
sentlally, rs the captain reported, to
her preservation. The quantity OF oil
required was very small, considering
the effect produced thirty gaI-
Ions OF olive oil. DR. Franklin further
suggested, and partly verified by cN-
pertinent, that boats on nearing "A
beach can sometimes subdue the break
ers by pouring out Il little oil before
reaching them.
All these facts and many more were
fully written Sut by DR.. Franklin in
l1sj, and published soon after. both in
French and English. Nevertheless. it
has only been within very few year,
that captains OF vessels have practiccd
the simple and inexpensive remedy.
After the events of the present wear,
surely no vessel should leave port with
out supply of oil and some simple ap-
Paratus for dropping it slowly and con
tinuously into a troubled sea.
To DR. Franklin the passengers and
crew Of the lost steamship Oregon owe
debt Of gratitude, for il was he who
communicated 10 Christendom the an
cient Chinese practice of dividing the
hold Of ship into a number Of water
tight compartments, which kept the
Oregon ailoat nine hours, and ought
to have kept her anoat until shercached
her dock at New York. His advice Oh
thi, subject, too, was not followed u
any great extent until recently. So
slow are we TO adopt improvements
which demand OF us little extra
trouble and eXpensci N y Lcdgcr.