£2 Drs Christison and Turner on the Construction of 
which the holes are too far distant. In the former, the body of the flame is 
of an unmingled white colour, and the blue base is short. In the latter, the 
blue base is long, and a considerable part of the body of the flame consists of 
blue and white streaks. The blue streaks diminish in length and breadth, ac- 
cording as the jet-holes are drilled nearer and nearer each other ; and at 
length they are shortened into a uniform ring at the bottom. That the blue 
streaks exist in connection with the exposure of a proportionally large sur- 
face to the air, will appear, on taking into account the form of the flame as 
seen by cutting it across the middle with a piece of wire-gauze. In this man- 
ner, if the holes are so near that the jets do not separate at the lowest possible 
elevation, the cylinder of flame will be found to be perfectly even ; but if 
the flame is streaked with blue, and made up of jets imperfectly united, its 
surface, both externally and internally, is fluted. 
The distance we have assigned for the jet-holes differs considerably, so far 
as we have hitherto examined, from that adopted in all the Argand burners 
at present used for oil-gas. Those made by Taylor and Martineau, and gene- 
rally used by the oil-gas companies of London, are the most correct we have 
seen ; and the distance in them seems to be regulated by some fixed prin- 
ciple, as it is the same in burners of all sizes. The distance in them is fl^ths 
of an inch. The operatives of this city have deviated from the rules followed 
by the original makers, but for what reason it is not easy to conceive. The 
distance adopted in Edinburgh, before the Oil-Gas Company commenced ope- 
rations, was fl^ths. By the alteration we propose, a saving of from 7 to 15 
per cent, is effected over such burners. This alteration, too, besides adding 
to the quantity of light, greatly improves the brilliancy of the flame; for in 
the improved burners a flame of 2^ inches gives fully as much light as one 
of 3 inches in the old oil-gas burners, and consequently is whiter and more 
brilliant. The burners of Dublin, of which a considerable variety was put in- 
to our hands by the Oil-Gas Company here, do not appear to be drilled on any 
regular plan whatever. One of them has 5 holes at the distance of Troths, 
another 8 at f^ths, another 10 at f^ths, another 12 at f^tlis, another 14 
at fohths, and another 17 at fl^ths. The expenditure of the two first is ex- 
tremely wasteful, being, for the same light, nearly as great as that of single 
jets ; and even the two last, which are the best of them all, should have six or 
eight holes more in the circle. 
More attention seems to have been paid to the construction of coal-gas 
burners. Peckston recommends, that the holes should be set at a distance of 
_i_6_ths, which, for holes a 32d of an inch in diameter, is sufficiently near, (On 
Gas-Lighting , 311.) The burners of the Glasgow Company are very nearly of 
the same construction. One has 10 holes on a circle f%ths °f an inch in dia- 
meter, and another 14 on a circle of T 8 5 ths ; so that in each the distance of the 
jet-holes is about .fl^ths. 
It is not easy to conceive how the Coal-Gas Company of this city, when 
they had such patterns before them, should have adopted and retained so long 
the burners now used by their customers. The largest, with 10 holes, has the 
same circle as that of Glasgow with 14 ; and the smallest, with 5 holes, has 
the same circle as that of Glasgow with twice the number. The distances are, 
therefore, in the former, and x 3 0 7 0 ths in the latter. Both are very u»- 
