Thus Air included in a vessel, by
being heated will burst it to pieces. Thus have I broke a Bladder held over
the fire in my hand, with such a violence and noise, that it almost made me
deaf for the present, and much surpassed the noise of a Musket: The like
have I done by throwing into the fire small glass Bubbles hermetically
sealed, with a little drop of Water included in them. Thus Water also, or
any other Liquor, included in a convenient vessel, by being warmed,
manifestly expands it self with a very great violence, so as to break the
strongest vessel, if when heated it be narrowly imprisoned in it. This is
very manifest by the _Sealed Thermometers_, which I have, by several
tryals, at last brought to a great certainty and tenderness: for I have
made some with stems above four foot long, in which the expanding Liquor
would so far vary, as to be very neer the very top in the heat of Summer,
and prety neer the bottom at the coldest time of the Winter. The Stems I
use for them are very thick, straight, and even Pipes of Glass, with a very
small _perforation_, and both the head and body I have made on purpose at
the Glass-house, of the same metal whereof the Pipes are drawn: these I can
easily in the flame of a Lamp, urged with the blast of a pair of Bellows,
seal and close together, so as to remain very firm, close and even; by this
means I joyn on the body first, and then fill both it and a part of the
stem, proportionate to the length of the stem and the warmth of the season
I fill it in with the best rectified _Spirit of Wine_ highly _ting'd_ with
the lovely colour of _Cocheneel_, which I deepen the more by pouring some
drops of common _Spirit of Urine_, which must not be too well rectified,
because it will be apt to make the Liquor to curdle and stick in the small
perforation of the stem.
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