1885.] on Accidental Explosions by Non-explosive Liquids. 281 



stantiate this view. At any rate, however, although the heated oil 

 which was spilled on to the floor from the lamp was in a condition 

 favourable to immediate ignition by the burning wick, it is not at 

 all likely that the fire would have extended almost at once with 

 uncontrollable violence, especially in face of the excellent disci- 

 pline and arrangements in case of fire which were shown to have 

 existed in the Goliath, if the scrupulous cleanliness and care had 

 been enforced which were essential in a room where lamp filling 

 and trimming were regularly carried out, and where it was necessary 

 to keep some supply of oil for current consumption. Instead of this, 

 the floor and probably therefore other parts of the room appear to have 

 been in a condition most favourable to the rapid propagation of the 

 flame ; moreover, the evidence as to proper care having been taken 

 to keep the S'apj)ly of oil required for current use in such a way as 

 to guard against its being accidentally spilled, or to impress the 

 boys employed upon the work with the great importance of care 

 and cleanliness, was by no means satisfactory, and there can be little 

 doubt that this catastrophe has to be classed among the numerous 

 accidents of a readily avertible kind which have coi^tributed to 

 lead tbe public to form an exaggerated estimate of the dangerous 

 character of petroleum oil as an illuminant. 



The employment of liquid hydrocarbons as competitors with animal 

 and vegetable oils in lamps for domestic use is of comparatively 

 recent origin, although petroleum or mineral naphtha in its crude or 

 native conditions was used at a very early date in Persia and in 

 Japan, in lamps of primitive construction, while in Italy it was 

 similarly employed about a century ago. 



The application of the most volatile products of coal distillation 

 to illuminating purposes in a crude way appears to have originated, 

 so far as Great Britain is concerned, with the working of a patent 

 taken out by Lord Dundonald in 1781, for the distillation of coal, 

 not with a view to producing gas, but for the production of naphtha, 

 brown or heavy oil, and tar. 



In 1820, at about the time when gas-lighting was being estab- 

 lished in London, his successors sold coal-naphtha in the metropolis 

 for illuminating purposes ; but the first really successful introduction 

 of naphtha as an illuminating agent was made by Mr. Astley shortly 

 afterwards, through the agency of the so-called Founders blast-lamp, 

 which came into use for workshops and yards in factories, and of the 

 naphtha lamp of Bead Holliday of Huddersfield, with which we are 

 well acquainted to this day, as, although it never became a success, 

 for internal illumination of houses, it still continues in extensive use 

 almost in its original form, by itinerant salesmen and showmen. 



In the Founders lamp a current of air, artificially established, was 

 made to impinge upon the flame and thus to greatly assist the com- 

 bustion of the crude heavy oil used in it. 



In the Holliday naphtha lamp the spirit finds its way slowly from 



