The first named source of gas is started in hot weather by expansion
of air confined in painted wood, which presses against the paint and
raises blisters when the paint is too soft to resist. Tough,
well-cemented paint resists the pressure and keeps the air back. These
blisters mostly subside as soon as the air cools and returns to the
pores, but subsequently peel off.
W.S. and others assert that damp in painted wood turns into steam when
exposed to sun heat, forming blisters, which cannot be possible when
we know that water does not take a gaseous form (steam) at less than
212 deg. F. They have very likely been deluded by the known way of
distilling water with the aid of sunshine without concentrating the
rays of the sun, based upon the solubility of water in air, viz.: Air
holds more water in solution (or suspension) in a warmer than in a
cooler degree of temperature; by means of a simple apparatus
sun-heated air is guided over sun-heated water, when the air saturated
with water is conducted into a cooler, to give up its water again.
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