L. TECHNOLOGY. 511 



tages claimed for it by the inventors of the different processes. 

 It is now stated, on the other hand, however, that the entire 

 process of manufacture has many grave practical difficulties, 

 especially in regard to the preservation and distribution of 

 the gas, since iron reservoirs and pipes, especially when 

 moistened, are so liable to be attacked by the oxygen as to 

 be soon rendered useless, thus requiring some new material 

 for this purpose. The illuminating apparatus also requires 

 to be totally changed, and, unless the mixture of the oxygen 

 is made with the greatest exactness, the idea of the economy 

 of the illumination is illusory. Furthermore, the intensity 

 of the light is very variable, according as the oxygen is more 

 or less mixed with air and moisture. So far as it regards the 

 economical introduction of this method of illumination, the 

 ordinary gas companies are assured that they have nothing 

 to fear from competition. 6 (7, July 21, 292. 



USE OF ZINC-ETHYL IN ILLUMINATION. 



Various propositions have been made for increasing the 

 illuminating power of common gas by the use of the liquid 

 hydrocarbons, but their explosive character and other diffi- 

 culties have interfered with their employment in practice. 

 It is now proposed to try zinc-ethyl or chloro-chromic acid, a 

 brilliancy of flame being thus obtained more than sufficient 

 to compensate for the additional cost. If hydrogen be passed 

 through a mixture of zinc-ethyl, it takes up a quantity of zinc 

 mechanically, and burns with a brilliant flame. If chloro- 

 chromic acid be substituted for the zinc-ethyl, some chromi- 

 um is carried off with the oxygen, and the light is more bril- 

 liant than before, and is said to have at the same time pow- 

 erful actinic properties. 8 A, July, 126. 



PHILLIP CAEBO-OXYGEN LAMP. 



A new artificial light, known as the Phillip Carbo-oxygen 

 Lamp, is said to possess many important advantages over 

 the ordinary means of illumination, and bids fair to come, be- 

 fore long, into very general use, its advantages over all others 

 consisting in its simplicity, its brilliancy, and the less noxious 

 character of the products of combustion. The light is gen- 

 erated by the simultaneous combustion of a certain liquid 

 chemical compound and of a current of oxygen, arrangements 



