220 I Assembly 



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gas. The experiment that he made there sh^ws that loO Bava- i 

 rian pounds of wood yielded in G5 minute's distillation, consiim- : 

 ing 50 to GU lbs. of coak during the process, 759 Bavarian cubic 

 feet (which is smaller than our foot) of pure and inflammable gas 

 and 20 pounds (Bavarian) of charcoal, and that its power of 

 giving light was 20 per cent superior to that of mineral coal gas. : 

 Different kinds of wood yield dififerent quantities and difterent 

 qualities of gas. 



Mr. Breisach is now in this country, and has secured a patent ! 

 for ihis invention from our government, it having been previous- j 

 ly obtained from most of the European States. It is said that he , 

 has made large sacrifices to bring the subject before the American ' 

 public. He is now with his brother, L. R. Breisach, engaged in a ; 

 neighboring State in showing on a large scale the merits of the 

 invention, and to awaken our enterprising citizens to its impor- 

 tance. We hope to see this useful invention introduced into our 

 cities and towns remote from the great coal beds, where wood is j 

 comparatively cheap, i 



] 



Mr. Burchard observed that the Bavarian pound is somewhat ! 

 less than ours. As to the success of this gas from wood, no doubt 

 exists of it in a country abounding like America with wood. A , 

 long time will the wood continue to supply the settlers of this | 

 vast forested continent with pure gas, better than any from mine- j 

 ral coal, not only in immense districts in which there is no coal, i 

 as also someaboundinsj with coal and wood. The celebrated inven- ' 

 tor of gun cotton, Prof. Schoenbein, has already supplied the city I 

 of Basle in Switzerland with the wood gas. It is there where I 

 wood is scirce, and is worth six dollars and a half per cord. It 

 illuminates lecture rooms and others superbly, with scarcely any , 

 offensive smell like that from coal gas. i 



George Darracott, of Boston, remarked that there might be ' 

 found evil in the use of a gas whose presence could not be de- 

 tected by its ' dor. It migh fill rooms insensibly and cause dan- ! 

 gerous expLtsions, an accident not ];k':ly to occur from coal gag \ 

 whose presence is too strongly perceived to pass unobserved. ) 



