1823.] of Oil Gas Establishments. 221 



may be considered as six and a half, the average number of hours 

 of burning per night is about three hours. I estimated this 

 before at two and a half; it was said to be three and a half: I 

 have taken the medium ; this, allowing the extra time on Satur- 

 day, would be 20 hours per week, or 1,040 per year. The 

 annual consumption will be about 8,800 cubic feet, for which at 

 50s. per 1000 feet, deducting five per cent, will be about 21/. 

 besides the hire of the gas meter ; each burner will consume about 

 1 ,350 cubic feet per year, which very little exceeds one and a 

 quarter foot per hour. The light of these burners is fully equal 

 to, if not exceeding, that of coal gas consuming five feet per 

 hour, thus realising upon a large scale all my experiments, 

 which have tended to prove that one foot of oil gas is equal to 

 four feet of coal gas. The illuminating power of these two burners 

 has been tried by a gentleman whose accuracy in experiments of 

 this kind may be relied on, and whose interest is as great in the 

 success of coal gas as of oil gas : his trials have all been followed 

 by the same results. The cost too will be equally favourable for 

 oil gas. The use of the gas meter gives an advantage oveT the 

 ordinary mode of charging per light, as in the latter case the con- 

 sumer must pay for a stated number whether he uses them the 

 whole time or not ; but supposing he should pay for six and a half 

 burners, the charge would be 26/. and if this were estimated, 

 according to the quantity consumed at 15s. per 1000 feet, and 

 considering one cubic foot of oil gas as only equal to three and a 

 half cubic feet of coal gas, as 1 originally stated it, the cost then 

 would be 23/. 8s. making a difference considerably in favour of 

 the former, and likewise showing the decided advantage of the 

 gas meter. The above statement will, I think, be conclusive to 

 any but the most prejudiced, of the superiority of oil gas over 

 coal gas in an economical point of view. 



Of the benefits arising from its introduction into private 

 houses, no one can speak more satisfactorily than myself, nor can 

 any one more seriously regret the necessity I have been under 

 of relinquishing the comfort and luxury arising from it in con- 

 sequence of my retirement here on account of my health. The 

 whole of my house was lighted with it ; and all the advantages, 

 great as they were, which I anticipated from it, were infinitely 

 more than realised. There was not a single annoyance, or the 

 slightest inconvenience arising from the use of it ; while the 

 brilliancy of the light, the cleanliness, the saving of trouble, and 

 many other comforts attending it, were a constant theme of 

 admiration, and now as constant a source of regret. Could the 

 benefits of this mode of lighting be generally known, and felt, 

 and duly appreciated, I have no doubt, that oil gas companies 

 would be universally established, and every house lighted 

 with it. It is difficult to say what the economy of this mode of 

 lighting is, that must depend upon the quantity of light ; it is, 

 however, satisfactory to know, that there is no waste ; you may 



