THE 
EDINBURGH 
PHILOSOPHICAL JOURNAL. 
Art. I . — On the Construction of Oil and Coal Gas Burners , 
and the circumstances that influence the Light emitted by the 
Gases during their Combustion ; with some Observations on 
their relative Illuminating Power, and on the different modes 
of' ascertaining it. By Robert Christison, M.D. F.R.S.E. 
Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, and Professor of 
Medical Jurisprudence and Police in the University ol Edin- 
burgh ; and Edward Turner, M. D. F. R. S. E. Fellow of 
the Royal College of Physicians, and Lecturer on Chemistry, 
Edinburgh. 
The following experiments were undertaken, in the first in- 
stance, as subordinate to an inquiry regarding the illuminating 
power of Oil and Coal Gases. They were undertaken, not long 
ago, at a time when the question of the illuminating power of 
the gases excited an extraordinary interest in this city. The 
projected establishment of an Oil-gas Company here, had led 
several scientific gentlemen to attend to the subject ; and a va- 
riety of statements were published as the result of their experi- 
ments. But these statements, instead of rendering the matter 
clearer, and receiving the confidence of men of science and of the 
public, differed so widely from what had been previously obtained 
* Read before the Royal Society of Edinbnrgh 18th April and 2d May 1825. 
VOL. XIII. NO. 25. JULY 1825 . 
A 
