470 JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. 
saying so, the public would have been able to judge for them- 
selves as to its illuminating value and its cost as compared with 
coal gas. But as the matter stands the specification either dis- 
closes gross ignorance of the simplest principles of chemistry on 
the part of the patentee, or it is a deliberate attempt to mislead 
the ignorant, and in any case it is well that the public should be 
warned against it. It isa difficult matter to obtain money for 
bona fide scientific research, but it seems to be the easiest thing 
in the world to gull an ignorant public into supporting unwork- 
able or absurd schemes. We append Prof. Newbery’s paper, as 
it will be found both interesting and amusing. 
Mr. Newbery read his paper as follows :—’‘ My desire is to 
call your attention to what seems to me to be a most extraordi- 
nary specification of a patent recently granted by the Victorian 
Patent Office for an improved gas, For convenience I have di- 
vided the specification into paragraphs, which I will read, with a 
few very brief notes. 
I. NATURE OF THE INVENTION.—My invention relates to the production of 
improved gas for illuminating purposes by the decomposition or dissolution of the 
component parts or constituents of certain metals, earths, or earthy bases, or alloys 
of earths or earthy bases, acids, or mixtures of acids, cacbon and hydrocarbon sub- 
stances or liquids, or other chemical substances, especially the salts of alkalis and 
alkaline earths, the dissolution of the substances being caused by heat in the manner 
hereinafter described. 
We are not told how to make alloys of earths or earthy bases, 
nor is there any further reference to them or to salts of the alka- 
lis and alkaline earths, and with regard to the process of decom- 
position or dissolution we are told nothing. 
2. OPTICAL FActTs.—It has long been known that certain chemical substances, 
when strongly heated, produce flames of peculiar colours, which, when blended to- 
gether, produce a white light. Thus, for instance, sodium compounds colour the 
flame an intense yellow, while potassium salts tinge the flame violet. In like man- 
ner other chemical substances produce other colours, the blending of which together 
can be made to produce a white light. 
In looking through the whole specification we find named cop- 
per, bismuth, mercury, zinc, manganese, iron, antimony, calcium, 
and sodium, which, even if vaporised together, would not give a 
continuous spectrum, and certainly not a white light. 
3. PARTICULARS AND NECESSARY PRECAUTIONS. —The following are the par- 
ticulars of certain stock or chemical mixtures employed according to my invention 
in the manufacture of gas, which are referred to in the formule or receipts herein- 
after mentioned, In preparing the stock it is essential that the scales, weights, and 
all utensils should be thoroughly and chemically clean, as_ the quality of the gas pro- 
duced depends upon great care being used in preparing the mixtures and keeping all 
the apparatus used clean, ‘There should be no water, or moisture, or damp, where 
the chemicals or ingredients are being mixed. 
Though no water should be near the chemicals when they are 
being mixed, water is used in several of them. Thus in para- 
graph 4 we have 44 parts of water in a total of 75 parts. 
4. For Stock No, 1 (Mixture A.)—In order to form stock No, 1, I make the 
following mixtures, the figures corresponding to parts by weight. Mixture A.— 
Take copper wire very clean, 1; add nitric acid, 30; then water 44; total, 75. 
We are also left in the dark as to the reason of adding so much 
nitric acid ; 1 part of copper would require about 2 parts, not 30 
parts of acid to dissolve it. 
