218 Mr. Ricardo on the Advantages [March, 



invest the Oural mountains with, the intermixture of a cupriferous 

 sand, probably allied to the cupriferous beds associated in this 

 formation in Germany and the Tyrol, &c. 



On the south of the Oural chain, it appears to stretch to the 

 Caspian, and to spread very extensively in the adjoining regions 

 of Asia. 



{To be continued.) 



Article XII. 



Observations on the Advantages of Oil Gas Establishments. 

 By M. Ricardo, Esq. 



(To the Editor of the Annals of Philosophy.) 



DEAR SIR, Brighton, Feb. 18, 1823. 



It is now nearly two years since I first addressed you on the 

 subject of oil gas, when you did me the favour to insert in the 

 Annals of Philosophy a paper " On the Comparative Advantages 

 of Oil and Coal Gas." These observations were founded upon 

 a few experiments I was enabled myself to try on the small 

 scale, the reports of those who possessed an oil gas apparatus, 

 and upon what I conceived would be the results obtained at an 

 oil gas establishment on an extensive pian. Since that period 

 I have had ample opportunities afforded me of making a trial, 

 upon a larger scale at the Whitechapel-road Gas Works, 

 situated in Oldford, and the result has been a full and satis- 

 factory confirmation of what I had before advanced. The for- 

 mation of a Company for carrying this work into effect was in 

 contemplation at the time I first wrote. A capital was raised, 

 an Act of Parliament was obtained, and to Messrs. Taylor and 

 Martineau devolved the task of erecting the works, which 

 were executed in a manner highly creditable to these gentlemen. 

 About two or three weeks before Christmas, 1821, the public 

 were supplied with gas, only five months having been occupied 

 in executing the work and laying the mains. The first annual 

 meeting took place on Thursday, the Gth of February last, when 

 a most satisfactory report was presented by the Committee, and 

 a dividend of two and a half per cent, declared on the capital 

 advanced ; not a dividend made for the occasion, but one arising 

 from a clear profit over and above the expenditure, of which 

 every proprietor had an opportunity of satisfying himself by a 

 reference to the accounts which were laid before the meeting. 

 This certainly may be considered as a strong proof in favour of 

 oil gas, when it is known that the mains of this establishment 

 run through, a district in which there is aa little demand for 



