OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. 319 



quality. The actual cost of importation, therefore, being increased, 

 the price at which it can be sold, must increase proportionally. If 

 this be correct, whilst the use of artificial light is necessarily increas- 

 ing rapidly, the resources from sperm oil are diminishing and likely to 

 diminish still more, and the time must soon come when some other 

 source must be resorted to, to meet this extensive and increasing want. 



" But it seems to me that this is not the most important aspect of the 

 question. There is another, affecting the labor, the industry, all the great 

 interests of the country, more especially the great interest of agriculture, 

 in which it deserves to be considered. Agriculture, which employs 

 the great proportion of the entire labor of the country, which is essen- 

 tial to every other industrial pursuit, and forms therefore the basis of 

 the wealth of the country, demands all the encouragement and sup- 

 port which the country can give it. 



" Without knowing any thing in detail of the composition and chemi- 

 cal qualities of burning-fluid, I take it for granted, — I think it has been 

 stated here this evening, — that by far the most considerable and costly 

 ingredient in it is alcohol or distilled spirit. Other substances may be 

 combined with it, to fit it for its purpose of giving a brilliant light, and 

 perhaps to check or prevent its explosive tendency, and thus guard it 

 from danser : of this chemists and scientific men will inform us. But 

 distilled spirit is the substance of it. 



" If this is to be the principal, or even a very considerable, source 

 of the artificial light of the country, it is hardly necessary to remark 

 upon the immense quantity of alcohol which will be required. In a 

 northern climate like ours, with a long night a part of the year, the 

 quantity of artificial light required for manufactories, shops, stores, 

 public buildings, and especially for domestic use, must be very large. 



" Alcohol, distilled spirit, is produced from many species of grain, — 

 wheat, rye, oats, barley, and Indian corn. We should then produce 

 our own material for light from our own fields, — create a home demand 

 and a home market for the products of our own farms. It is easy to 

 perceive what an active spring this must give, what a firm and steady 

 support it must afford, to the agriculture of the country. 



" But perhaps I may be told, that, in proportion as you use grain for 

 distillation, you diminish the quantity appropriated for the food of the 

 people, and render bread scarce. If it were so, it would certainly 

 be a grave, if not a decisive, objection to this use of grain. The con- 

 constant, full, and steady supply of grain to a country, at moderate. 



