450 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. X. 



Gas is an institutioQ of the utmost value to the artisan; it 

 requires hardly any attention, is supplied upon regulated terms, 

 and gives with what should be a cheerful light a genial warmth, 

 which often saves the lighting of a fire. The time is moreover 

 not far distant, I venture to think when both rich and poor will 

 largely resort to gas as the most convenient, the cleanest, and 

 the cheapest of heating agents, and when raw coal will be seen 

 only at the colliery or the gasworks. In all cases where the 

 town to be supplied is within say 30 miles of the colliery, the 

 gasworks may with advantage be planted at the mouth, or still 

 better at the bottom of the pit, whereby all haulage of fuel 

 would be avoided, and the gas, in its ascent from the bottom of 

 the colliery, would require an onward pressure sufficient probably 

 to impel it to its destination. The possibility of transporting 

 combustible gas through pipes for such a distance has been 

 proved at Pittsburg, where natural gas from the oil districts is 

 used in large quantities. 



The quasi monopoly so long enjoyed by gas companies has had 

 the inevitable effect of checking progress. The gas being sup- 

 plied by meter, it has been seemingly to the advantage of the 

 companies to give merely the prescribed illuminating power, and 

 to discourage the invention of economical burners, in order that 

 the consumption might reach a maximum. The application of 

 gas for heating purposes has not been encouraged, and is still 

 made difficult in consequence of the objectionable practice of re- 

 ducing the pressure in the mains during daytime to the lowest 

 possible point consistent with prevention of atmospheric indraught. 

 The introduction of electric light has convinced gas managers 

 and directors that such a policy is no longer tenable, but must 

 2;ive way to one of technical progress ; new processes for cheap- 

 ening the production and increasing the purity and illuminating 

 power of gas are being fully discussed before the Gras Institute ; 

 and improved burners, rivalling the electric light in brilliancy, 

 greet our eyes as we pass along our principal thorongh fares. 



Regarding the importance of gas supply as it exists at present, 

 we find from a Government return that the capital invested in 

 gasworks in England, other than those of local authorities, 

 amounts to £30,000,000; in these 4,281,048 tons of coal are 

 converted annually, producing 43,000 million cubic feet of gas, 

 and about 2,800,000 tons of coke : whereas the total amount of 

 coal annually converted in the United Kingdom may be estima- 



