104 Me. W. Kfddie on the Early History and Proceedings of the Society. 



Alexandei- Tullocli, a native of Glasgow, but then resident in London, 

 a voluminous writer on various subjects, literary and scientific, and edi- 

 tor of tlie Philosophical Ma(/a.zine, was elected a member soon after the 

 Society was instituted. 



Amongst the subjects first brought before the Society was the supply 

 of the town with water, a service at that period very inadequately per- 

 formed by water-carts ; also, the prevention of smoke in chimneys, 

 which the Society was of opinion might be accomplished by making the 

 vent of considerable length, of tolerable width, smoothly plastered, and 

 narrow towards the top. The subject of the water supply was re- 

 peatedly brought forward by Dr. James Watt. When the Water Com- 

 pany were constructing their works, they were advised by this 

 gentleman to carry a pipe across the river, and take advantage of the 

 extensive holm opposite the woi'ks for the formation of a great natural 

 filter. The Com])any adopted the suggestion, and the filter became a 

 source both of power and emolument ; in consideration of which they 

 granted to Dr. Watt, when he afterwards fell into indigent circum- 

 stances, the privilege of using their water for nothing ! * In the year 

 1S03, when the country was roused to the highest pitch of martial 

 excitement by the threatened invasion of Napoleon, the general defence 

 of the nation was a topic of grave discussion in the Society. From this 

 time forwards there are frequent notices of experiments by Mr. Kober- 

 ton on the rifling of guns and the construction of bullets. In the same 

 j-ear the plan of a telegraph for conveying information throughout the 

 country was described by Mr. Boaz, who patented the invention. In 1 805, 

 a conversation on Phlogiston is minuted, but without any indication of 

 the reception given to the Oxygen theory, which had then generally 

 gained acceptance amongst chemists. The prospective advantages of 

 railroads formed the topic of an essay this year. 



But the discoveiy which engrossed the greatest share of the Society's 

 attention for many meetings in succession, was the preparation of coal 

 gas for the purpose of lighting. Mr. George Liimsden, bookseller, and 

 Dr. Nimmo appear to have conducted a series of experiments before the 

 Society on the production of gas, and the latter gentleman undertook 

 to compare the quantities of gas obtainable from diflferent kinds of coal, 

 particularly those of Lesmahagow, Banton, and Newcastle. Mr. Mur- 

 doch had applied the gas to economical purposes in a mine at Redruth 

 in Cornwall so early as 1792, and repeated his experiments in Ayrshire 

 in 1796, where he taught the old women to make gas retorts of their 

 disabled teapots. In 1798, he lighted the Soho Foundry at Birming- 



* In 1821, after Dr. ^yatL's death, a letter was produced in the Society which had 

 accompanied a gift to him of £21 " for his suggestions to the Company." 



