Nov. 14, 1884.] 



♦ KNOWLEDGE . 



407 



[OUR SCIENTIFIC INDUSTRIES. 



By \V. Slingo. 



GAS AND ITS USES. 

 I. — Man'cfacture. 



THIS series of papers will obviously take a wide range 

 of subjects — subjects, too, in which our readers must 

 be more or less directly interested. The object in view is 

 to present in as readable form as possible some of the very 

 many commercial pursuits which are largely based on 

 scientific principles. At first thought it might appear that 

 no industry would be outside this category ; but a little 

 consideration will render apparent the fact that very many 

 of our industries are not only weak in scientific bases, but 

 that they are frequently more opposed than conformable to 

 science. The end and aim of Knowledge, however, is not 

 only to disseminate scientific information, but also to indi- 

 cate new paths for scientists to tread. Consequently, 

 reference to unscientific industries will occasionally be 

 necessary, if only to point out the way in which the 

 teachings of science may be advantageously applied. 



The gas industry has been chosen as the first upon which 

 to expatiate, not because of its paramount importance, but 

 rather because it is one which appeals directly to every- 

 body and which is of considerable interest in many 

 directions. 



Notwithstanding all that has been said and done in the 

 way of promoting the electric li2;ht since the inauguration 

 of the Paris Exhibition of 1878, it is manifest that the 

 extent to which the new illurainant has been adopted is 

 but a shadow — and that only a faint one — of what was 

 so fondly hoped for by the crowd of too-enthusiastic pro- 

 moters. Several hundred thousand pounds have been 

 risked and lost in the venture, and doubtless many more 

 will, ere long, share the same fate. Nor is this much more 

 than might have been expected, even had attention only 

 been directed to the fortunes and misfortunes which have 

 attended the introduction of any novelty in previous times. 

 George Stephenson had much more trouble in all directions 

 than have waited upon electricians before he was able to 

 demonstrate the real worth that lay hidden in his ideas. 

 Amongst the many adversaries contending with him and 

 many other progressive luminaries, ignorance, prejudice, 

 and scepticism were not the least hurtful, but the day when 

 such enemies may testify their potency has gone, and surely 

 the electric light has sutifered but little from either. All that 

 electricians have to do is to prove that their apparatus 

 can do what they claim it to be capable of doing, and 

 that it shall do it at a price somewhere near what we 

 are now pa3dng for similar benefits derived, may-be less 

 pleasantly, from other sources. There are many points 

 about which electricians have been less careful than they 

 should have been. They seem to have run away with the 

 idea that, being able to demonstrate that light could be 

 produced by the agency of electricity, they had done their 

 share in introducing the new system. The troubles and 

 reverses suflered by them during the past six years, how- 

 ever, have been sufficient to impress them with the neces- 

 sity for making their system a practicable one. Nor can 

 there be any doubt that, the position having been realised, 

 they have stirred themselves in earnest to do that which 

 hitherto they neglected. The past summer has shown us, 

 in a great measure, what the electric light is capable of 

 doing, and how great are the facilities for adopting it at 

 the shortest notice. We have only to turn back, in our 

 mind's eye, to the display made at the recently closed 

 Health Exhibition for ample evidence on this score. 



Great, however, as are the capabilities of electricity for 

 illuminating purposes, it will doubtless be many a long day 

 before a sufficient amount of confidence is placed in it to 

 warrant its general adoption. In the mean time, coal-gas 

 will continue to fill with ever-increasing efficiency that 

 sphere which it has so ably occupied for the greater part 

 of the present century. Coal-gas is not only an illumi- 

 nant, but it is also a proved source of energy ; it is 

 capable of driving powerful engines, of heating stoves and 

 conservatories, and of being applied in a great number of 

 other ways — ways in which electricity, notwithstanding 

 all that certain learned professors may say to the contrary, 

 has not yet been proved practicable. Electricity as a 

 motive power still requires the feeding-bottle, nor are 

 storage batteries far out of the cradle. Visions of their 

 maturity loom before us, but they appear only in the dim, 

 dim distance. The sooner their development is brought 

 about the better. We should all benefit by the change, 

 and even holders of gas shares might, by exhibiting be- 

 coming discretion, profit by it. For cooking purposes the 

 application of electricity has scarcely been suggested, and 

 there is every indication that, for this purpose alone, the 

 consumption of gas will continue to increase with gigantic 

 and constantly-augmented strides. The possibilities of the 

 distant future, however, should not deter us from studying 

 matters as they are, but should rather prompt us to be- 

 come better acquainted with the present order of things, 

 that we might be duly prepared to receive and welcome the 

 change. 



It is, then, with the conviction that gas is an old and 

 faithful servant, but that the time will come when as 

 an illuminant it will be superseded, that I venture to 

 describe, first, the general principles involved in the manu- 

 facture of gas, and then one by one the many ways in 

 which it is applied to satisfy our daily wants. 



To commence with, a few historical remarks may not be 

 out of place. The word " gas " is believed to have been 

 derived from the Flemish " geest," a spirit (the term then 

 generally applied to all things invisible). It was intro- 

 duced by Van Helmont, a native of Brussels, born in 1577, 

 who, in one of his experiments, burnt seventy-one pounds 

 of charcoal, which yielded but one pound of ashes, and he 

 concluded that the other seventy pounds served to form a 

 " spirit," which he found to diffi^r entirely from atmospheric 

 air. 



Very little, however, was derived from this, so far 

 as the discovery of coal-gas and its properties are con- 

 cerned. " Burning fountains, arising from inflammable 

 gas issuing from the earth, have existed from remote ages, 

 and, being attributed to supernatural agency, they were 

 worshipped as emblems of the Deity." Records are also 

 left of springs of " boyling water " that " did burn like 

 oyle ; " but perhaps the most interesting is the account of 

 the discoveries and experiments of the Rev. Dr. John 

 Clayton, who, towards, the close of the seventeenth century, 

 had his attention drawn to one of these burning springs. 

 It is stated that, " having caused a hole to be dug, on a 

 candle being put down into the hole, the air catched fire, 

 and continued burning." Dr. Clayton's interest was evi- 

 dently excited, for he says, " I got some coal and distilled 

 it in a retort in an ojien fire. At first there came over only 

 phlegm" (steam), "afterwards a black oil, and then likewise a 

 spirit " (gas) " arose, which I could in no ways condense, but 

 it forced my lute, and on coming close thereto to repair it I 

 observed that the spirit which issued out caught fire at the 

 flame of the candle, and continued burning with violence 

 as it issued out in a stream, which I blew out and lighted 

 alternately several times. I then filled a good many blad- 

 ders therewith, and might have filled an inconceivable 



