INTRODUCTION OF LIGHTING BY COAL-GAS. 5 



To the talent of Mr. Murdoch we owe the first introduction of gas as a 

 source of oeconomical light, and to him must be awarded the great merit of 

 having first arranged an apparatus for the production of gas, so as to render 

 it useful to mankind. Of the value of the adaptation of gas to purposes of 

 illumination no one can doubt : gas-lighting must indeed be placed amongst 

 the great and various improvements which ingenuity has introduced into the 

 arts of civilized life. 



It is not many years since our streets were dimly lighted by miserable 

 oil-lamps, that only served to make the surrounding gloom more percep- 

 tible ; the shades of night offered an easy escape to depredators, by whom 

 the metropolis was infested. Now, on the contrary, by the brilliant lustre of 

 the gas, night is rendered as secure as day, and the inhabitants may pursue 

 their various avocations by its cheerful light, prolonging the period of their 

 usefulness and activity. Those only who have experienced the contrast can 

 appreciate the immense advantage arising from the present system. When 

 we consider the great increase of pleasure and convenience thus afforded us, 

 we must feel deeply indebted to those highly-gifted and enterprising indivi- 

 duals, by whose talents and industry so great a blessing has been conferred 

 on society. 



In the year 1 792 Mr. Murdoch made use of gas in lighting his house and 

 office at Redruth in Cornwall, where he then resided. The mines where he was 

 at work being distant some miles from his house, he was in the constant prac- 

 tice of filling a bladder with coal-gas, in the neck of which he fixed a metallic 

 tube, with a small orifice, through which the gas issued ; this being ignited, 

 served as a lanthorn to light his way for the considerable distance he had 

 nightly to traverse. This mode of illumination being then generally un- 

 known, it was thought by the common people that magical arts alone could 

 produce such an effect. At this time inflammable air seems to have been 

 similarly used by a French gentleman of the name of Le Bon, who lighted 

 his house and gardens with gas obtained from wood and coal. 



In 1798 Mr. Murdoch erected an apparatus for the production of gas at 

 the manufactory of Messrs. Boulton and Watt at Soho. The annexed sketch 

 (Fig. 1.*) will show the description of retort he then used. 



* The figures are drawn to a scale of half an inch to the foot. The same letters refer to cor- 

 responding parts in all. 



