1821.] 



Description of the great Gas Retort-Hoxise. 



The casual spectator, ignorant per- 

 haps, or heedless of the use of what 

 he sees, finds himself surprise<l into an 

 admiration of its effects ; he is alter- 

 nately engulphed in smoke, dust and 

 darkness, and dazzled by the efful- 

 gence of flame, of brilliancy too great 

 for his organs of sight ; he sees men 

 labouring under an uniform tempera- 

 ture, very far exceeding that of any 

 known climate of the earth, he is en- 

 compassed by fieiy engines which con- 

 tinually startle him by their explosions; 

 and tiiese are successively made to vo- 

 mit their contents through iron trap- 

 doors, into a lower apartment, which 

 seems to him a region of fire, and some 

 indescribable burning, and from which 

 he is protected but by the floor on 

 which lie stands ; he retires with some 

 apprehensions of danger, over heaps 

 of coal and scoria, to the entrance, to 

 breathe the pure air of heaven, and as- 

 sure himself of his safety. 



The human mind is governed by as- 

 sociation ; an artist, an educated man, 

 of a poetic imagination, will at a glance 

 over the scene, raise a perfect Tartarus 

 before him ; here he will find yawning 

 mouths, belching flames and pouring 

 ignited matter into caverns of tire be- 

 low ; here he will see in terrific indi- 

 stinctness the wheel of Ixion with its 

 serpents; and monstrous chimerae with- 

 out end. All gradations of light are 

 exhibited from impenetrable darkness 

 to the finest possible coruscations of 

 flame; "forms dimly seen'' flit in 

 the gloomy recesses of the place, while 

 the human figure in its finest athletic 

 character is displayetl before him in an 

 infinite variety of action, and under 

 circumstances of light and shadow, 

 and i>i grandeur in the general effect, 

 probably unnoticed and unintelligible 

 to all but persons of his own class ; and 

 his imagination is assisted by the Babel- 

 like confusion of tongues which occa- 

 sionally arises, loud explosions from 

 every quarter, remote as well as pre- 

 sent, and the various discordant noises 

 which prevail. He sees the blackened 

 form of the toiling and uneducated 

 labourer, and he perhaps contrasts this 

 figure with that of a directing engineer 

 who stands beside him ; the first seems 

 hardly conscious of his nature, and is 

 certainly ignorant of the extent of its 

 capabilities; the other is a man of 

 science, and practical skill, who by 

 the mere effect of cultivation is en- 

 abled to take the whole of this wonder- 

 ful arrangement, as it were in his 



grasp at once, from the developement 

 of its first principles, through all the 

 ramified calculations of effect, and 

 the minutiae of organization to a given 

 practical result. The sti iking differ- 

 ence of this colouring would induce 

 him to lament the violent inequality of 

 their conditions, but the jocund laugh 

 of the former in tiie intervals of his 

 labour, awakes him from his phlloso- 

 pliical dream, and reminds him that 

 these objects of his attention are alike 

 the creatures of circumstance, and that 

 they are respectively content. 



It may be imagined that the eye of 

 our artist passed with satisfaction from 

 the scene of tiumoil below, to the 

 glimpse of majestic and tranquil sce- 

 nery exhibited by the crescent moon, 

 which is seen through the opening 

 above. 



The apartment in which this scene 

 occurs, is called the retort-house of the 

 Gas Works; that part of the process 

 which is here conducted may be thus 

 familiarly described. 



Cylindrical iron retorts are arranged 

 in sets of seven together in a cavity or 

 oven as it is termed, and which is 

 heated by a furnace fire of considerable 

 dimensions. Each of these retorts has 

 a pipe proceeding perpendicularly from 

 its mouth-piece to a large horizontal 

 tube or main, which is (ermed the hy- 

 draulic main; the mouth of each re- 

 tort is closed with a lid, fitted so as to 

 be completely gas tight, by a luting of 

 clay applied upon its edge, and the lid 

 is secured in its place by a cross-piece 

 and screw. 



The gas is evolved in the retorts, 

 passes up the tube connected with the 

 mouth-piece into the hydraulic main, 

 and con tinues to do so, until the whole 

 product is obtained from the charge. 

 The gas with its accompaniments of 

 tar and ammoniacal liquor in a gaseous 

 state, having passed into the main, iroii 

 pipes convey it to the condensing vessel, 

 passing through which, the tar and am- 

 moniacal fluid remain in the tar cistern, 

 and the gas passes into a vessel in which 

 it undergoes a process of final purifi- 

 cation. It is then conveyed to the gaso- 

 meter, in wliich the quantity protluced 

 is registered ; it passes thence to the 

 reservoir or gas holder, in which it re- 

 mains for use. 



The process commences hy lighting 

 the furnace fires and heating the retorts 

 to a bright cherry redness; their lids 

 are i\\m\ removed from the moutli-pieces, 

 the proper ciiarge of coal is thrown 



into 



