ANNUAL ADDRESS. XXXVII. 



■some would have us believe, it has certainly met with unexpected 

 rivalry of late where it was supposed to have permanently outrun 

 all competitors, that is for supplying artificial light under almost 

 every practical set of conditions. 



Recent experiments serve to show that, with the most recently 

 improved incandescent burners, the illuminating power of a given 

 volume of gas is multiplied at least ten times over that given when 

 burnt in an old fish-tail or bats-wing burner. Gas engineers have 

 been moving under the stimulus of electric light competition, and 

 now it is evident that the production of a gas for purely heating 

 purposes and use with the incandescent burner, is not the same thing 

 as making gas for direct illumination. Water gas well adapted 

 for use in the gas engine, has been produced cheaply from inferior 

 fuel for a long time, but such gas has poor illuminating power, 

 being practically non luminous, and consists theoretically of 

 hydrogen and carbonic oxide in equal volumes. Under the most 

 modern improvements for the production of illuminating water 

 gas, the coke of gas works is utilised for combustion in a generator, 

 and steam is driven through the incandescent fuel and decomposed; 

 hydrogen is thus liberated, as the oxygen combines with the carbon 

 of the fuel, to form carbonic oxide. This compound gas is then 

 carburetted by the gasification of an enriching oil ; and simply by 

 regulating the supply of this oil, the gas can be made at will from 

 sixteen to forty candle power. Very great importance attaches 

 to the manufacture of this carburetted water gas, and it appears 

 to be in more common use in America than ordinary coal gas. In 

 England and Scotland it has lately made great headway, and the 

 Australian Gas Light Company are now introducing it to their 

 Sydney works. It would prolong this address unduly to attempt 

 to describe the process in detail, but the Section may hope to have 

 a paper on the subject from Mr. Bush in due course. I am 

 indebted to that gentleman for the outline particulars so far given. 



It would not be fair to leave the subject of light production 

 without a reference to acetylene gas, and to the production of 

 calcium carbide, which has of late made such giant strides, that 



