No. 275. J 219 
sand five hundred cubic feet of a pure gas are obtained, but which af- 
fords a stronger and whiter light than coal or oil gas. 
An apparatus, consisting of a condenser with eighteen tubes, is fixed 
for purifying the gas, each tube stands in a reservoir of flowing water, 
so that the gas has to pass eighteen f.mes through the water; during its 
transmission it is not deprived of its carbon; in addition to this, it has 
to pass through two layers of dry lime; the gas thus purified retains no 
offensive odour, and may be respired when mixed with atmospheric air 
without inconvenience. 
I have copied the whole paragraph from the Journal of Science, with 
some slight alterations, in order to bring a subject so important once 
more before the public. 
If the above details may be relied upon, and if the experiments of 
Merle are satisfactory, if peat can be employed to advantage in the pro- 
duction of gas, it becomes one of the most important natural produc- 
tions in the State, second only to coal for fuel, and equal to it for pro- 
ducing a beautiful and agreeable light. It would at once become a 
source of individual wealth, and furnish employment for a multitude of 
laborers, and increase the amount of transportation from the interior of 
the State to the cities and larger villages. It would employ a vast 
amount of material lying useless and unproductive, and one, too, em- 
braced in our own territory. It would be using a great capital which 
has been accumulating for a long time, and has been reserved in store 
for this age of enterprise. 
Perhaps it would be saying too much to assert that peat is more va- 
luable than coal, but when we consider that for creating heat it is not 
very inferior to bituminous coal, that it contains a gaseous matter equal 
in illuminating power to oil or coal gas, that its production is equally 
cheap, and in addition to this that it is a valuable manure if properly 
prepared, its real and intrinsic worth cannot fall far short of the poorer 
kinds of coal. There is one consideration which commends itself to the 
philanthropic of all our large cities, viz. the introduction of peat as a 
fuel to supply the necessities of the poor. It is believed that much suf- 
fering may be prevented, and much comfort promoted, by the use of 
peat in all places where fuel is expensive, as in New- York and Albany. 
A careful examination, therefore, of places favorable to the production 
of this substance, is a matter of some considerable importance, as it is 
the next best substitute for the more expensive article, coal, and any 
thing for fuel which will save a farther destruction of the forests, both 
in New- York and the New-England States, is worthy of adoption from 
