Professoh Thomas Thomson on Coal Oas. 167 



ton of which, he says, yields 7160 cubic feet of gas, and produces 

 about two-thirds of a ton of coke. 



In this interesting paper, Mr. Murdoch gives the history of the dis- 

 covery of gas making. In the year 1792, while at Redruth in Corn- 

 wall, he made a set of experiments on the quantity and qualities of the 

 gases produced by distillation from diflferent mineral and vegetable 

 substances. He was induced, by some observations which he had 

 previously made on the burning of coal, to try the combustible pro- 

 perties of the gases produced from it, as well as from peat, wood, and 

 other inflammable substances ; and being struck with the great quan- 

 tities of gas which they afforded, as well as with the brilliancy of the 

 light, and the facility of its production, he instituted several experi- 

 ments, with a view of ascertaining the cost at which it might be 

 obtained, compared with that of an equal quantity of light yielded by 

 oils or tallow. 



In the year 1798 he removed from Cornwall to Boulton & Watt's 

 works at Soho, and there he constructed an apparatus upon a larger 

 scale, which, during many successive nights, was applied to the 

 lighting of their principal building, and various new modes were tried 

 for washing and purifying the gas. These experiments were con- 

 tinued, with some interruptions, till the peace of 1802, when a public 

 display of the gas light was made by him in the illumination of the 

 manufactory at Soho on that occasion. 



Since that period, or between it and 1808, he extended the appara- 

 tus at Soho, so as to give light to all the principal shops, where it was 

 in regular use, to the exclusion of other artificial light. In 1808 he 

 fitted up the gas apparatus in Messrs. Phillips ife Lee's cotton mill ; 

 since which time it has been extended to all the cotton mills in the 

 kingdom. 



I have stated these details, though but imperfectly connected with 

 the subject which I mean to discuss, because I believe the history of 

 the introduction of gas, as a substitute for oil or candles, is not very 

 generally known. It is generally ascribed to Mr. Windsor, who took 

 out a patent in 1806, and who delivered lectures on the subject several 

 years after, and who endeavoured to get up a joint-stock company, 

 with what success I do not know. Several attempts were made here 

 about the year 1808, and during the winter of that year the front of 

 the Tontine buildings at the Cross of Glasgow was lighted with gas for 

 several weeks. London was the first city illuminated with gas. Philip 

 Taylor erected the gas works at Paris soon after the peace of 1815. 



In the preceding historical sketch, I have taken no notice of Lord 

 Dundonald*s coal tai- works at Culross. The current of gas escaping 

 from his ovens was frequently fired ; but it does not seem to have 

 occurred to him to employ tlie gas thus extricated for economical 

 purposes. Nor have I noticed M. Lebon, who is said, in 1786, to have 

 attempted, but without success, to employ gas distilled from wood as 



