38 Remarks on an Article entitled " Afew Fads 



vestigation and consequent improvement. But alas ! how crest- 

 fallen must the science and enterprise of this country appear in 

 the eyes of other nations, upon reading the succeeding para- 

 graph ; which, if altogether true, we might fairly call the death- 

 warrant of coal gas ! for it says that " important as this disco- 

 very was, many defects and inconveniencies have arisen on its 

 adoption : coals contain a large proportion of sulphur, which is 

 volatilized with the gas, and it has hitherto been found impossi- 

 ble to purify it sufficiently for lighting close rooms. The suffo- 

 cating smell and the property it has of tarnishing every thing me- 

 tallic, exclude its use from dwelling-houses, on account of the 

 injury it wowld do to our health, our furniture, books, pictures, 

 plate, paint, &c." Bravo : bravo! Why, Mr. Editor, after this, 

 what must our foreign relations think of our granting Acts of 

 Parliament to almost all our large towns, to allow corporate bodies 

 to vend this aeriform pandemonmm, to the detriment of not 

 only our health, but our unoffending furniture 1 What can they 

 think, I say, but that through the medium of this said coal gas 

 we have discovered a method of reducing our overgrown popula- 

 tion, infinitely superior to any of the bright thoughts of Malthus 

 or his followers ! But to be serious; — for a charge like this, against 

 not only the " science and enterprise," but the philanthropy and 

 genius of this country, demands our most serious attention; — and 

 the question still presents itself, " Is it true ?" 



Fortunately, Mr. Editor, I have not far to wander for a con- 

 futation the most satisfactory. At this moment, mv nose and 

 eyes have as conclusive an evidence before them as any Argand 

 lamp can produce, or man the most fastidious could desire, that 

 it is by no means " impossible to purify coal gas sufficiently for 

 lighting close rooms !" Not to insult the understandings of your 

 readers by any endeavours to persuade them that either our 

 health or our furniture are as yet uninjured ; I will briefly stale, 

 that since the commencement of this year we have been enjoy- 

 ing the many advantages resulting from coal gas illumination ; 

 not only in our brewery, offices, and stables; but in our dwelling- 

 house, consisting of entrance-hall, library, sitting-rooms, dining- 

 room, laboratory, &c. : even our bed-rooms partake of the com- 

 fort it affords. The light by which I am now writing is fur- 

 nished from a chandelier suspended from the centre of the ceil- 

 ing by four chains, two of which partly screen the two tubes by 

 which the gas is conveyed, the one leading to a ring of 16 jets 

 which rise between heraldic leaves not unlike a coronet ; and the 

 other to an Argand of the largest size in the centre, which, for 

 the sake of our eyes, is guarded by a sphere of ground glass. 

 As to any the slightest degree of " suffocating smell " arising 



from 



