838 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



the fact that he had purchased seventy-eight samples of oil from as 

 many different dealers in the city, and not a single one of them was 

 safe. Some were pure naphtha. 



So convincing was the statement that it was taken up all over the 

 country. The report was reprinted everywhere, and the statements 

 were made the basis of legislative action in most of the States. The 

 report was followed by a second in July of the same year, a third in 

 1870, and a very elaborate report of 110 pages in 1871. Ten thousand 

 copies of the latter were printed and circulated by public-spirited citi- 

 zens in New York. It was largely reprinted in Switzerland, exten- 

 sively quoted in France and Germany, and freely used and quoted by 

 the Select Committee of the House of Lords in their report on the 

 Petroleum Bill, 1872. In fact. Professor Chandler was invited to go 

 to England to testify before this committee. He did not content him- 

 self with writing on the subject, but lectured in the hall of Cooper 

 Union, the Academy of Music, and in Washington. Not only were 

 the dangers of poorly refined oil exposed, but also the entire failure 

 of all the safety-oils, safety-lamps, safety-cans, vapor-stoves, etc., and 

 patented processes for making naphtha and benzine safe. It was 

 shown that, with proper oil, accidents would never occur, while there 

 is no method by which bad oil can be used with safety. 



In New York City alone there were, in 1870, a hundred and fifty- 

 seven fires known to have been caused by kerosene and naphtha, eigh- 

 teen per cent, of the whole. There were also twenty-one deaths from 

 the same cause, with thirty-nine deaths from clothes taking fire in 

 ways not stated. It was estimated that from one to two thousand 

 persons were killed annually by these accidents, before the labors of 

 Chandler called attention to the cause and indicated the remedy. 



One of his most comprehensive investigations resulted from the 

 action of the Board in suppressing the gas nuisance. All the gas 

 companies purified their gas by what was called the dry-lime process. 

 The foul lime when removed, as it was daily, from the purifiers, dis- 

 seminated a stench throughout the entire city. This odor was by 

 most citizens attributed to the sewers. When it was fully realized 

 that it came from the gas-works, the companies were appealed to, and, 

 with one exception, they introduced improvements by which the odor 

 was suppressed. One company, however, maintained that no odor 

 emanated from their works ; that the odor was not disagreeable ; that 

 it was wholesome, as children suffering from whooping-cough were 

 brought to breathe it; that they could not avoid making it; and, finally, 

 if they did, the gas would be too bad to burn in dwellings. The re- 

 sult of these claims was a most elaborate trial before a referee. The 

 gas company produced experts and other witnesses to sustain the 

 above views, and Professor Chandler combated them with the best 

 foreign authorities on gas-making. The evidence was subsequently 

 published in the Report of the Board for 1869, and is one of the most 



