ISS.I. J Coal and Oil Gas.' 



wear and tear, all Tepairs, 



Sic. ••',■ j^9,443 18 



Receipts : rental for shop and 

 streetlights •••2,320 



Difference.. 123 18 

 —Here tiie annual receipts are 12S^ IBs. 

 short of the current expenses of the esta- 

 blishment, leaving the interest of the mo- 

 ney invested as capital unpaid, and which 

 at six per cent, amounts to 480i. per ann. 



To ascertain the cost price to the ma- 

 nufacturer of 1000 cubic-feet of oil-gas, 

 we must proceed thus : — 

 To the annual current expendi- 

 ture . • . • ^2443 18 



Add the interest of the money 

 invested as capital (8,000i.) 

 at six per cent. 480 



The sum 2,923 IB 



is the cost ofgeuerating 2,1 06,600 cubic feet 



Cubic Feet. £ t. 



ofoil-gas; therefore, as 2,106,600 : 2,923 18 



C. F. s. d. 

 :: 1000 : 27 9, which in round numbers we 

 may call 28s, 



Comparison as to the cost of obtaining 

 a specific quantity of liglit from oil-iias and 

 from coal-gas, admitting 3,000 cubic feet 

 of oil-gas to be equal in illuminating power 

 to 10,000 cubic feet of coal-gas : — 3,000 

 cubic feet of oil-gas, at 28s. equal to il. 4s. 

 and 10,000 cubic feet of coal-gas, at .is. 6rf. 

 equal to 2i. 15s. 



But we do not allow the above compa- 

 rison to be correct, liaving the autlionty of 

 the first chemists in this country for stating 

 the proportions by measure: — 1 oil-gas 

 equal in illuminating power to a little more 

 than 2 coal-gas. And a series of experi- 

 ments, made at Bristol, in January last, 

 with considerable care, by Mr. William 

 Herapath and Mr. Samuel Rootsey, both 

 professional men, (not actuated by party 

 feeling, but simply by a desire to ascertain 

 the truth,) show that 1 cubic foot of oil- 

 gas gives nearly as much light as 21 cubic 

 feet of coal gas, viz. to 2"24 cubic feet. 

 Therefore 3,000 feet of oil-gas, at 28s. will 

 be 4/. 4«. ; and 6,720 feet of coal-gas, at 

 bt.6d., about 1/. 17s. — We may therefore 

 consider that a quantity of coal-gas can be 

 manufactured for 37/. (coals being 1/. 6s. 

 per ton,) which would give as much light 

 as oil-gas, costing tiie mauufacturer 84^ 

 when oil sells at 25ii. per ton, T. S. P. 



To t/ie Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 



SIR, 



ALL Europe ha8 been filled with 

 horror during the past month, by 

 the tragical loss of a sailing packet, 

 pasning between Ireland and England, 

 by which at least one hundred con- 

 fiding and helpless passengers lost 

 their lives. 'I'he circumstance is .suf- 

 ficiently afflicting to humanity in gene- 



—Lost of Packets. 29* 



ral, but is of speci&i importance in a 

 public point of view, as the connec- 

 tion of two great countries, politically 

 and socially united, depends on such 

 mode of communication. Nor ought 

 it to be forgotten, that the event was 

 occasioned by no violence of nature, and 

 took place at no considerable distance 

 from land, during a calm, when no 

 chance of danger ought to have been 

 incurred. 



Notwithstanding the multiplicity of 

 our modern statutes, a new one seems 

 necessary to protect passengers by sea 

 and land. Whenever a public ship is 

 lost, whatever be the circumstances, 

 the captain is invariably tried by a 

 court-martial. Why should not a 

 similar provision exist in regard to 

 private vessels ? The ca])tain should 

 in all cases be held responsible ; and he 

 takes it on himself, by the arbitrary 

 and uncontrolled power which he 

 assumes over crew and passengers in 

 every thing that relates to the manage- 

 ment of the vessel. Where the lives 

 of helpless persons are implicated, 

 negligence should be held culpable; 

 and the desertion of the vessel, till 

 every thing possible has been done to 

 rescue the passengers, should be held 

 highly penal. 



It is often replied, in such cases, that 

 a captain or a coachman runs a common 

 risk. But tliis is not true. Passen- 

 gers often, too (jften, lose their lives, 

 while the conductors escape. Sea- 

 faring men can generally swim, and 

 coachmen are too adioil, in a moment 

 of danger, to allow themselves to be 

 hurt. It is true, in stoknis, captains 

 are often lost; and, in some cases of 

 casualty, coachmen suffer ; but, in 

 these cases, nature is to blame, and 

 the conduct of neither captain nor 

 coachman are called in question. It is 

 in cases where nature is not in fault 

 that the public require special legal 

 protection.* 



As I have proved on another occa- 

 sion, it is the fixed parts of a vessel 



out 



* In a popular discussion, popular lan- 

 guage is used, and some would, impiously, 

 as the writer thinks, have put proviiknee 

 in place of natiue, which latter word means 

 merely the complication of circumstances 

 producing an event. But, in truth, neither 

 providence, nor that complication termed 

 nature, are to be blamed, but man alone, 

 who, in venturing upon the sea, or on a 

 coach, places him out of, or above, nature, 

 and exposes himself to a course of things, 

 independently of himself, of which he 

 volunteer* 



