In endeavouring to account for the disappearance of the water from the boiler of torpedo boat No. 47 an unnamed contemporary of The Engineer stated: "Very little is known of the action of steam of a much higher temperature than that due to the corresponding pressure normal to saturated steam. It is possible that the component gases may become dissociated, and in such a case…they would escape into the atmosphere, never returning to the aqueous condition." Thomson, in laying this old and useless theory to rest, drew attention to the fact that they had been unable to cause water or steam to dissociate at the highest temperatures reached in marine locomotive boilers.