86 Account of an Explosion of Oil Gas 



hours, before it has discharged itself to a dangerous amount. 

 Is it at all probable, or even possible, that the careless servant, 

 or the other domestics, shall wander about the house for a day 

 or more without being annoyed by the noxious smell of the 

 emitted gas ? * Let this contingency, however, also take 

 place, and let the gas stream out unperceived for a whole day. 

 Even then it by no means follows that an explosive mixture is 

 to be generated. The constant current which takes place 

 in every room, with a door, a window, and a chimney, is per- 

 petually changing the air in the apartment, and even that 

 which lodges in its remotest comers.f The gas will conse- 

 quently be carried off by the ventilation, and, in proof of this 

 assertion, we may state, that there is no case on record toherc 

 an explosion -of gas has taken place in an apartment with the 

 ordinary ventilation. But let this, too, be rendered proba- 

 ble, and let us suppose that the ventilation is somehow or 

 other suspended. In this case the gas must be issuing from 

 every crevice, and it is impossible, if a servant does ap- 

 proach the room with a lighted candle, that he should ever 

 reach the door without being impelled by the odious smell of 

 the gas. Should the servant be suddenly deprived of the use of 

 one of his senses, he may carry the candle into the explosive 

 mixture, (if it happen at that time to be explosive,) and thus 

 fall a sacrifice to a miraculous combination of circumstances; but 

 if he advances with the use of his olfactory nerves, he must be 

 considered in the same aspect as a madman, who should light 

 himself into a powder magazine with a pan of burning coals. 

 In this argument we have supposed, that the gas has been 



of the nature of gas as to blow out the flame, or put it out with an ex- 

 tinguisher, without turning the cock, should be sent to school before they 

 arc admitted into rational society. 



* We do not allude to small apartments or cellars without windows or 

 chimnies, (though even here it will be seen from facts that the argument 

 is applicable,) for we are of opinion that the engineer who fixes a gas light 

 in such places ought to be indicted for a felonious ignorance of his profes- 

 sion. 



+ This arises from what is called the lateral communication of motion in 

 ilukls, and has been established by the numerous experiments of Vcnturi 

 and others. See the Article Hydrodynamics in the Edinburgh Enci/clo- 

 '.'«, vol. xi. p. 193— 197. where these experiments are fully detailed. 





