292 Annual Report of the Council. 



became his friend. Following the example of his master, 

 Dale commenced a course of lectures on Chemistry, going 

 to all the principal towns of Lancashire. He illustrated 

 his lectures with many original experiments, which he per- 

 formed most skilfully, and received from Dalton especial 

 commendation and compliments on his successful under- 

 taking. He often related with great humour, how after a 

 lecture in a school-room, he gave orders to have the room 

 locked until he could remove his apparatus and chemicals. 

 The schoolmaster being struck with the combustion of 

 phosphorus in oxygen, could not resist the temptation to 

 carry off a piece of this dangerous body, which had 

 very unpleasant consequences, as he put it in his pocket 

 for taking it home. After a short removal to Altrin- 

 cham, Dale returned to Manchester, where he took 

 a shop in St. Mary's Gate, and during this period 

 he made the acquaintance of Mr. T. Roberts, with 

 whom he afterwards went into partnership. It was at this 

 time that he made his first discovery. In 1825 Faraday 

 had been requested by the Portable Gas Company to find 

 out why the gas, which was obtained by the distillation of 

 oil and pumped into copper cylinders under pressure, lost 

 much of its illuminating power when kept for some time. 

 Faraday found the cause to be the condensation of some of 

 the gas to a liquid, which he examined and thus discovered 

 two new hydrocarbons. One of these, which he called bi- 

 carburet of hydrogen, was in 1834 obtained by Mitscherlich 

 from benzoic acid and named benzine by him, on the 

 assumption that it was derived from benzoic acid simply by 

 the abstraction of carbonic acid. To this Liebig objected, 

 and changed the name of the empyremnatic oil obtained by 

 distilling benzoic acid with lime into benzol, because the 

 ending ine reminded one of quinine or strychnine with which 

 it had nothing in common. He adds that it would have 

 been better to have retained Faraday's name, as this oil had 



