THE SOURCE OF LIGHT, HEAT, COLOUR, ETC. 219 



wheels are set in motion by steam, generated by the heat which is derived 

 from the fossil fuels, both coals and peats ; for the latter substance is 

 largely employed in the sister Isle, and, as many think, might be profitably 

 adopted as a fuel in England, when converted into charcoal and com- 

 pressed. 



Volumes have been written, from time to time, on the fossil fuels- 

 coals and peats — and it certainly is a subject of the greatest importance to a 

 manufacturing people, although too vast and extensive for a short paper in 

 a magazine. I shall, therefore, pass by this portion of the hydro-carbon 

 history, and notice briefly the application of gas as a heat producer. Gas- 

 stoves for heating rooms, baths, or for culinary purposes, are pretty 

 generally known ; and from the great facility with which this gaseous fuel is 

 obtained, and ever ready to do its kindly work, they are coming more 

 into favour. Attempts have been made to use gas in some of our 

 metallurgical operations, but I believe with no success ; although in 

 Prussia and Austria this fluid is used for furnace and refinery purposes 

 with complete success. The furnaces in question are said to be built 

 expressly for the use of a compost fuel or inflammable gas. The gas so 

 used is mostly prepared from wood, and there may be something in the 

 nature of this gas to render it as superior to coal-gas, as charcoal is to coke 

 for smelting purposes amongst ourselves. Those who are supposed to be 

 practically acquaintedwith the merits of all plans for the reduction of 

 metals, speak of gas furnaces as impracticable in this country, from their 

 greater expense in the item of fuel. 



It is very probable that the bitumens may yet form another important 

 source of heat for manufacturing and general steam purposes, an idea 

 originating in the immense discoveries of rock oil in America. Our trans- 

 Atlantic kinsmen, eagerly anxious to turn their oil-springs to the best possi- 

 ble account, and fully recognising the importance of cheap and available fuel 

 in these days of manufacturing progress, have already directed their attention 

 to the application of rock-oil as a heat producer. In the ' Chemical News ' 

 for May, 1861, I find the following description of an apparatus with which 

 certain experiments have already been made in Pennsylvania. " A series of 

 iron pipes are laid in the fire arch of the boiler, which pipes are perforated 

 in their upper surface with minute holes ; the oil is supplied to those pipes 

 by means of a force pump, aided by an air-receiver, to preserve a con- 

 stant pressure. A spray, so to speak, of oil is thus made to fill the space 

 usually filled by the flame of wood or coal used to raise steam ; this, once 

 ignited, fills the fire-arch and flues of the boiler, and maintains the desirable 

 amount of heat in the boiler. If this fuel is not found to be too expensive, 

 it will prove a good thing for the use of steamers on sea voyages." 



It is even contemplated to utilise the numerous oil and bitumen springs 

 in Asia Minor, by working the projected railway across the Euphrates 

 valley with them, in conjunction with wood. These bitumens, mixed with 

 wood, have been found to equal, if not surpass, coal as a fuel for the genera- 

 tion of steam, and when CoL Chesney explored the route for the first 

 time, they were selling at about 3d. per cwt. 



