172 Jarman on Gas Lights. 



A friend of mine works his glass manufactory by it thvoagii 

 the nights of winter, and has a gasometer of his own. One 

 of the taverns in Bristol is hghted by its own gasometer ; 

 and most of the coffee-houses in London are lighted by the 

 public gas. At first, the management of the pipes and keys 

 not being well understood, an offensive smell used to be 

 produced ; but now it is very seldom found; the purifying of 

 the gas, by passing it through lime-water, is general ; but a 

 person at Exeter in Devonshire has obtained a patent for 

 purifying gas, by passing it through lime unmixed with wa- 

 ter, as I understand : it is said to be placed on perforated 

 shelves in a receiver, through which the gas is made to pass 

 in its way from the furnaces to the gasometer ; and this is 

 said to be a much more effectual way of removing the of- 

 fensive smell than by passing it through lime water ; but we 

 have not tried it at Bristol. 



I forgot to mention to you that the charcoal and tar, pro- 

 duced from the coal at the works, are profitable to us, and 

 help to make up our ten per cent. I should also mention, 

 that any surplus profit is to be applied to the reduction of 

 the price for lighting the public lamps, as a remuneration to 

 the public for permitting us to carry our mains (i. e. our 

 main-pipes) through the streets. 



No accident has ever happened in Bristol since the works 

 began ; except that one evening an unlucky mouse got into 

 the first pipe, and by moving a valve, prevented the gas 

 from passing into the mains, and consequently all the lamps 

 went out, and the city was in darkness for half an hour; 

 but it happened to be early in the evening and not very dark; 

 and a repetition of the accident is now effectually prevented. 



Bath, Cheltenham, and many other towns, are now light- 

 ed by gas. I believe fifty or sixty acts of Parliament have 

 passed incorporating companies for this purpose ; and when 

 the committee waited on Lord Grenville (who is our Lord 

 High Steward) for his support in the house of Lords^ he 

 told us he had no doubt the use of gas would be universal; 

 he recommended us to visit a manufactory lighted by gas 

 produced from oil, which he thought more beautiful than 

 that produced from coal ; and it certainly did appear to be 

 more brilliant; but we have coal in abundance, and not 

 oil. The coal we use is the small brush coal, such as 

 smiths use, and it is cheaper than the other pit-coals. 



