194 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



NEW MATERIAL FOR THE PRODUCTION OF GAS. 



A VERY interesting experiment has recently been tried in Paris be- 

 fore several distinguished members of the Academy of Sciences. 

 The fact to be demonstrated was, that, by the decomposition of grape- 

 skins and the lees of wine in a close vessel, a carburetted hydrogen 

 gas would be disengaged, of such a superior quality as to lead to the 

 supposition that it could be used in the place of the gas ordinarily 

 obtained from coal and resin. A pound of dried grape-skins, placed 

 in a white-hot retort, furnished, in less than seven minutes, three hun- 

 dred and fifty quarts of excellent carburetted hydrogen gas. The gas 

 burns with a brilliant white flame, is without odor, and emits little smoke 

 in comparison with that produced from pit-coal and resin. An experi- 

 ment with the dried dregs of wine was equally satisfactory. 



ISOLATION OF ETHYLE. 



WE learn that Mr. Frankland, who has for some time been pursu- 

 ing his chemical studies in the laboratory of Prof. Bunsen, of Mar- 

 burg, has discovered ethyle, the base of ether. The isolation of this 

 interesting base will doubtless tend to the elucidation of many involv- 

 ed questions connected with the phenomena of etherification ; and 

 it must consequently prove of great interest to all chemists. Lon- 

 don Aihen&um, June. 



The radicals methyl and amyl, have been isolated by the same chemist 

 since the date of the above. Editors. 



CARBONIC ACID AS A MEANS OF EXTINGUISHING FIRES IN COAL- 

 MINES. 



WE extract from an English paper some interesting facts with refer- 

 ence to the extinction of fires in coal-mines by means of carbonic 

 acid. The authority for the statements is the proprietor of the Ast- 

 ley collieries, where the experiment was tried with complete success. 



When a fire is discovered in a mine, it is usual to close all the open- 

 ings, so as to prevent any access to the atmosphere, and if this does 

 not extinguish the flames, water is then introduced into the mine. It 

 is found impossible to seal up all the openings so closely as to extin- 

 guish the fire, as is shown in the case of Lord Bradford's collieries, at 

 Bolton, and those of the Earl of Ellesmere, at Worsley, which have 

 been on fire for the last two years. The fire at the Astley collieries 

 broke out with great violence, and the proprietor being unwilling to 

 lose so much time and to flood his mines wrote to Mr. Gurney, the 

 author of a plan for ventilating mines by means of high-pressure 

 steam, inquiring if he could suggest any plan for the speedy extin- 

 guishment of the flames. Mr. Gurney proceeded at once to Astley, 

 and after some investigation suggested that the mine should be filled 

 with carbonic acid, azote, or some other extinguishing and incombusti- 

 ble gas, but it was objected that the expense necessary to procure 

 enough of the gas to fill a mine containing three miles of passages 

 would be immense. Mr. Gurney, however, obtained permission to 



