June 21, 1894J 



NATURE 



177 



to heat a mantle of refractory material up to incandes- 

 cence, and for this purpose the 15-candIe gas will do as 

 well as the 16. 



One argument which has been raised against the 

 lowering of the standard is that if a l6-candle gas is 

 reduced to i; candles during distribution, a 15-candle 

 gas will be lowered to 14. This I think is a mistake. 

 An enriched gas is lowered in illuminating value be- 

 cause certain vapours are condensed from it ; but it will 

 be found that with an unenriched gas, made at a high 

 temperature, this action is decreased to a minimum, on 

 account of the small proportion of vapours present. 



One of the most important experiments ever tried on 

 a large scale has been made this year, the London 

 County Council having given permission to the South 

 Metropolitan Company to supply unenriched gas to 

 South London for the space of a fortnight, in order to 

 practically ascertain the result during distribution and 

 the loss of light to the consumer. 



At the testing stations the gas for the fortnight showed 

 the average value of about 15 candles, ranging from 14 

 to 16 according to the coal used at the various works, 

 whilst tests made with portable photometers on the 

 consumers' premises gave identical results, before, 

 durmg, and after ihis period, clearly showing that the 

 whole value of the enrichment consisted in satisKing 

 the legal requirements, whilst the consumer gained 

 absolutely nothing but the privilege of paying for it. 



It is to the interest of the gas consumer and gas com- 

 pany alike that the price of gas should be reduced to 

 the lowest possible figure, and the possibility of 

 reduction in price is entirely dependent upon the 

 discarding of the costly enrichment. 



Under the present legal conditions the companies 

 gain niithing by supplying a gas a candle belter than the 

 standard, and if they fall a candle below have 

 to pay the absurd fine of 40^'., a state of things 

 which if the London companies did not show the 

 greatest anxiety to fulfil all their obligations might lead 

 to a considerable reduction in the value of the gas 

 distributed, as to pay a daily fine and to send out gas of 

 a value of ij'i candles would save the companies many 

 thousands a year. 



This is all manifestly wrong, and if the consumers are 

 to get the full benefit of coal-gas, and if co.il-gas is to 

 take its proper place as a fuel as well as an illuminant, 

 its sale must be placed on a sound commercial basis. 

 Enrichment should be entirely given up, and the gas 

 that can be made direct from the coal supplied to the 

 consumer. 



A minnnum of illuminating value should be fixed for 

 each town based upon the coal used, andany fall belowthis 

 should be visited by a line of ^50 for the first half-candle, 

 and an increment of ^loo tor each halfcandle below 

 that, whilst the price charged for the gas should be 

 governed by its illuminating value for the quarter as 

 averaged from the testing station returns, a low initial 

 price, say is. id. per thousand, being charged for 

 i4-candle gas, and \\(1. a candle for each candle above 

 it, with a maximum price of 2f. id. If some such 

 scheme as this could be adopted, not only would the 

 consumer obtain the full value for his money, but the 

 gas companies would reap the benefit of an enormously 

 increased consumption for fuel purposes, and the 

 atmosphere of our big cities would gain in proportion. 



Vivian B. Lewes. 



NOTES. 



The Council of the Society of Arts have, with the approval 

 and sanction of the President, H.R.II. the Prince of Wales, 

 awarded the All)ert Medal to Sir Joseph Lister, Bart., F. R.S., 

 "for the discovery and establishment of the antiseptic method 



NO. 1286, VOL. 50] 



of treating wounds and injuries, by which lot only has the art 

 of surjjery been greatly promoted and hu'\.an life saved in all 

 parts of the world, but extensive indu3'rit,„ have been created 

 for the supply of miterials required fjr c-^rrying the treatment 

 into effect." 



We are requested to slate that before long a memoir of the 

 late Dr. James Croll, F.R.S., will be ready for puHlicaiion. 

 Persons having letters from Dr. Croll, or information likely to 

 be of interest, are requested to forward such to J. C. Blackwell, 

 10, Royal Terrace, Edinburgh. The letters will be returned 

 when their contents have been noted. 



A Pasteur Institute was opened at Tunis on Tuesday by 

 Dr. Loir, a nephew of M. Pasteur. 



The death is announced from Paris of ^L Ed. Lefevre, 

 known for his work in entomology and botany. 



Prof. C.an.n'izzaro has been elected a correspondent of the 

 Paris Academy of Sciences, in the place of the late M. de 

 Marignac. 



We learn from La Nature that a department of agricultural 

 entomology has recently been formed at the Institut National 

 Agronomique, and placed under the direction of Prof. Brocchi 

 Tne work of the depinment will bi to identify insects sent for 

 that purpose by agriculturists, and to point out the means of 

 destroying insect pests or diminishing their ravages. 



The Cape Times says that among the latest accessions to the 

 South Africau Museum are an old imperfect skull and other 

 bones of a white rhinoceros, presented by .Mr. W. G. Schmidt. 

 These remains of the now all but extinct " white " orBurchell's 

 rhinoceros were found at a depth of about S feet, in black turfy 

 soil, at about twelve miles from the Vaal River. 



A co.MPLETE statement has been issued of the different 

 sections of the Mining and Metallurgical Exhibition to be opened 

 at Santiago in September next. The classification is as 

 follows:— (l) Motive Power; (2) Electricity; (3) Mining 

 Machinery ; (4) Mechanical Preparation of Minerals ; (5) 

 Metallurgy; (6) Chemical Industries ; (7) Statistics and Plans ; 

 (8) Mining and Metallurgical Products. 



The Paris correspondent of the Times reports that, 

 at the first meeting of the 1900 Exhibition Commission, 

 the following scheme of classification was read : — The 

 first group of exhibits is entitled " Education, "and contains six 

 classes. Group U. comprises " Works of Art," containing 

 paintings, drawings, engraving, lithography, sculpture, the 

 cutting of precious stones, and architecture. Group III. is 

 called " Instruments and General Processes of Literature, 

 Sciences and Arts," including typography, photography, 

 binding, newspapers, maps, instruments of precision, coins 

 and medals, medicine and surgery, musical instruments, 

 and the theatrical art. The IVth Group is "The Afaliriel a.ai 

 General Processes of Mechanics," including steam engines, 

 motors, divers apparatus of general mechanics, and implements. 

 The Vth Group deals with electricity, including the production 

 and mechanical application of electricity, electro-chemistry, 

 electric lighting, telegraph, and telephone. Then come loco- 

 motion, agriculture, horticulture, forestry, alimentation, mines, 

 furniture, textiles, chemicals, social economy, and military 

 weapons. 



It is reported by the British Medical Journal \^?A a committee 

 of the Calcutta municipali y have resolved to recommend that 

 a sum of money be voted for two years in order to test 

 thoroughly >L Ilaffkine's system of cholera inoculation. This 

 method, worked out by M. ilall^ine in the Pasteur Institute 



