428 WHALE-FISHERY. 



apparatus they have contrived has become generally 

 known, it will command the attention of the public, 

 and be brought into extensive application. It is> 

 however, but justice to a gentleman of Hull, Mr 

 J. B. Emmett, to mention, that experiments were 

 instituted by him so early as August 1816, in which, 

 I understand, he succeeded in procuring a gas, very 

 superior to that from coal, by decomposing whale- 

 oil; and that in April 1817, the substance of his 

 investigation of this property of oil, was published 

 in the " Philosophical Magazine," and also appear- 

 ed in April and May, in several of the Yorkshire 

 newspapers. 



'J'o persons who are concerned in the whale-fishe- 

 ries, as well as those who consider every thing of 

 importance which involves our national prosperity, 

 it must be gratifying to observe the laudable exam- 

 ple which has been set by the inhabitants of Nor- 

 wicli, Ipswich, &c. of giving encouragement to the 

 fisheries by lighting their streets witli gas from oil. 

 In places where coal is not very cheap, gas, it seems, 

 can be produced from oil, at about the same expeuce 

 as coal-gas ; consequently, the numerous advantages 

 of the former, will render it highly preferable. 



A recentcontrivance, tending to encourage the ma- 

 nufacture and increase the consumption of oil-gas, 

 I have great pleasure in mentioning. I allude to 

 the patent Portable Gas Lamp, invented by Da- 

 vid Gordon, Esq. of Edinburgh. This consists of a 



