568 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



torical nature miglit not be nninteresting. As early as 1659, Mr. Thomas 

 Shirley suggested that an illuminating material might be had from the 

 burning wells of Wigan, in Lancashire, and to which he called the atten- 

 tion of the scientific world ; and on several occasions he urged the fact 

 that this might be a very valuable discovery, for discovery it was, but no 

 one would take any notice of it. It was again observed by Dr. Clayton, in 

 1664, that illuminating gas could be made very cheaply by the decomposi- 

 tion of coal by heat, and he said he got this idea from Mr. Shirley. But 

 still there was important improvements to be made in (jrder to render these 

 ideas practical. In 1787, Lord Dundonald, of Culross Abbey, Scotland, 

 occasionally had vessels filled with the gas coming from the burning wells 

 of Wigan, to light up his balls on festive occasions. He afterwards took 

 out a patent for using coal tar for this purpose ; he discovered that a large 

 portion of tar passed off in the form of gas, and the workmen used to light 

 it as it issued from the mouth of the well or cave. But nearly 100 

 years elapsed before this was made valuable, and the true discoverer 

 of the practical application of coal gas for lighting purposes was Mr. Mur* 

 dock, a Scotchman, who in the year 1792, at Redruth, in Cornwall, made a 

 series of experiments on the quantity and quality of the gases produced by 

 distillation of different substances, both mineral and vegetable. These 

 experiments were induced by observations on burning coal to test the com- 

 bustible properties of the gas produced from it, as well as from peat, wood 

 and other inflammable substances, and he was astonished at the great 

 quantity of gas which they afforded, as well as the brilliancy of the lights. 

 He continued these experiments until 1798, when he was appointed to a 

 responsible position in Bolton & Watts' works, in Soho, and from 1792 to 

 1802, he worked almost alone in this field. In 1802, on the declaration of 

 peace, his employers, Bolton & Watts, allowed him to use it in illuminating 

 their works, which he did very satisfactorily, and as he CQntinued to light 

 up their building for some weeks afterwards, crowds flocked to see it, they 

 even cai^ie from distant towns to view the illumination, so novel was the 

 sight. 



Much credit however is due to Mr. Winsor, who took out a patent in 

 1806, and delivered lectures on the subject, and after many efforts suc- 

 ceeded in getting up a joint-stock company, and some of the streets of 

 London were then lighted by gas. 



In 1812, Philip Taylor first introduced gas in Paris, and in 1815 erected 

 gas works there, where he manufactured oil gas on a large scale. 



The first gas manufactured in this country, was exclusively from oil, and 

 the first street lamp illuminated by it was that before the house of Mr. Leg- 

 get, the President of the New York Gas Light Company, but subsequently 

 they used rosin, from which they continued to manufacture it for a long 

 time afterwards, as also did the Manhattan Company, until Mr. Roome dis- 

 covered that it could be made from coal cheaper, and rosin is now entirely 

 abandoned and coal used in its place, and as but half of the coal is destroyed 

 in making the gas, the other hi*lf which is coke, is sold, and it is said to 

 nearly pay for the manufacture of the gas itself There has been many 

 improv^ements made in the process of generating gas in this city, particu- 

 larly in the mixing of the different substances. The richest coul, or'that 



