m 
Mr Gordon’s New Portable Gas Lamp. 
been dried by a new process, which will enable a botanist in a 
tropical climate to dry nearly 400 specimens in three days. It is 
very rich in ferns and grasses, as well as other genera little 
known as natives of the tropics. 
I have, besides, a portfolio of drawings, representing the 
most striking picturesque and vegetable scenery, together with 
maps of the different routes pursued. 
Art. XXV. — Account of a new Portable Gas Lamp^ invented 
by David Gordon, Esq. Edinburgh *. 
TThe application of inflammable gas to the purposes of illu- 
mination, has hitherto been almost wholly confined to the lights 
ing of large cities, extensive manufactories, and public insti- 
tutions. The ingenious apparatus invented by J. and P. 
Taylor, for obtaining gas from oil, has enabled gentlemen of 
fortune to light their houses with gas at a moderate expence, and 
without being annoyed by any of the disagreeable products 
which arise from the distillation of coal. But notwithstanding 
this valuable improvement, gas light has never been rendered port- 
able, and the great body of private individuals, and all the low- 
er classes of society, are unable at this moment to derive any 
advantage from thfe extraordinary cheapness of this beautiful 
light. 
In order to remove these limitations to the use of gas lights, 
and to render them available in every case where lamps or candles 
can be used, Mr Gordon conceived the idea of condensing a 
great quantity of gas into a small space, and set himself to con- 
struct a lamp, in which this condensed gas could be burned with 
the same facility and security as an ordinary lamp. The body 
or reservoir of the Ikmp, which we have represented in Plate 
IX, Fig 1. and 2. is commonly made of copper, about ^^^th of an 
inch thick, in the form of a sphere or a cylinder, with hemi- 
spherical ends. This reservoir may be put into a different apart- 
ment from that which is to be illuminated, or may be concealed 
* Mr Gordon has secured by patent the exclusive privilege of this invention. 
We have been enabled to diw up the following short account of it from information 
, communicated by the Inventor, — Ed. 
