Hence, it is of no use to
attempt to distil, until you have provided abundance of good firewood of
a fit size to burn quickly, and have built an efficient fireplace on
which to set the kettle. Unfortunately, fuel is commonly deficient in
those places where there is a lack of fresh water.
Rate of Distillation.--A drop per second is fully equivalent To an
imperial pint of water in three hours, or be an imperial gallon in an
entire day and night.
The simplest way to distil, but a very imperfect one, is to light a fire
among stones, near a hollow in a rock, that is filled, or can be filled
with salt-water. When the stones are red-hot, drop them one by one into
it: the water will hiss and give out clouds of vapour, some of which may
be collected in a cloth, and wrung or sucked out of it. In the same way a
pot on the fire may have a cloth stretched over it to catch the steam.
[Sketch of still as described below].
Still made with a Kettle and Gun-barrel.--There is an account of the
crew of the 'Levant' packet, which was wrecked near the cosmoledo
Islands, who supplied themselves with fresh water by means of
distillation alone, and whose Still was contrived with an iron pot and a
gun-barrel, found on the spot where they were wrecked. They procured, On
the average, sixty bottles, or ten gallons, of distilled water in each
twenty-four hours.
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