Friedrich Christian Accum

“ But besides the flame, which is a peculiar gas in the state of combustion, heat expels from coal an aqueous vapour, loaded with several kinds of ammoniacal salts, a thick viscid fluid resembling tar, and some gases that are not of a combustible nature. The consequence of which is, that the flame of a coal-fire is continually wavering and changing, both in shape, as well as brilliance and in colour, so that what one moment gave a beautiful bright light, in the next, perhaps, is obscured by a stream of thick smoke. ”

“ By means of gas we may have a pure and agreeable light at command in every room of our house, just as we have the command of water, with this singular advantage, that these lights may burn for hours within an inch of the most combustible substance without danger, because they neither can burn down like a candle nor emit sparks. These properties make the gas-lights a most desirable light on board our ships of war, where severe regulations are necessary to prevent danger from fire, which after all are frequently evaded. ”

“ If we could for a moment suppose the privation of artificial light, it would follow as an immediate consequence that the greatest part of the globe on which we dwell, would cease to be the habitation of man. ”

“ The workman is not called upon to exercise his own judgment, because, when the fire is properly managed, the evolution of the gas goes on spontaneously, and without further care, till all the gas is extricated from the coal.
No part of the machinery is liable to be out of order,—there are no cocks to be turned, no valves to be regulated; nor can the operator derange the apparatus but by the most violent efforts. And when the stock of gas is prepared, we may depend on its lighting power as much [154] as we depend on the light to be obtained from a certain number of candles or oil-lamps. ”

“ Upon the whole, when we reflect that the object of the gas-light illumination is to open a source of national wealth, of which nothing can deprive us, to create, we may almost say, new articles of value, its friends cannot be thought guilty of great presumption, if they look forward with confidence to the successful extension of this new art of civil economy ”

“ For as the mere benefits which mankind may derive from any particular discovery, they are certainly more indebted to the person who first applied the discovery to actual practice, than to him who first made it, and merely illustrated it by barren experiments. Mr. Winsor certainly pressed on the mind of the public with unremitted perseverance and diligence the extensive application of gas-light in the year 1802, but he made no new discovery with regard to the composition of coal; he did not even invent the mode of conducting the gas through tubes ”

“ The most beneficial application of gas-lights unquestionably is in all those situations where a great quantity of light is wanted in a small place: and where light is required to be most diffused, the advantages of this mode of illumination are the least.—Hence, as already stated, the lighting of the parish, or street-lamps only, without lighting shops or houses, can never be accomplished with economy. ”

“ Who among the ancients would have listened to the extraordinary scheme of writing books with such rapidity, that one man, by this new art, should perform the work of twenty thousand amanuenses? What philosopher would have given credit to the daring project of navigating the widest ocean?—or imagined the astonishing effect of gun-powder—or the extended application of the steam engine? ”

“ It is chiefly upon the power of collecting the products afforded by coal, with convenience and cheapness, that the promoters of the gas-light illumination found their claims to public encouragement. They conceive that the flame [52] which pit-coal yields, as it is now consumed, is turned to very little advantage: it is not only confined to one place, where a red heat is more wanted than a brilliant flame, but it is obscured, and sometimes entirely smothered, by the quantity of incombustible materials that ascend along with it and pollute the atmosphere. ”

“ The objection with regard to the Greenland trade is equally futile. This traffic, might with more propriety be called a drain, than a nursery, of the naval force. The nature of the Greenland service requires that the crew should consist chiefly of able-bodied sailors; and being protected men, not subject to the impress law, they are thus rendered useless for national defence. The nursery of British seamen is the coasting trade; and if the gas-light illumination be put in practice to a large extent, it will increase that trade as much as it will diminish the Greenland fishery. ”

“ The only inconveniences that attend the use of coke is, that, as it consumes, it leaves much more ashes than common coal, charcoal, or wood; and these much heavier too, which are, therefore, liable to collect in such quantity as to obstruct the free passage of air through the fire; and further, that when the heat is very intense, these ashes are disposed to melt or vitrify into a tenacious drossy substance, which clogs the grate, the sides of the furnace and the vessels. ”

“ To assist the reader in comprehending the nature and object of substituting coal-gas for tallow or oil, for the purpose of obtaining light, it may be proper to touch slightly upon the successive discoveries that have been made as to the decomposition of coal, and the application of its different ingredients. Such a sketch will add to the many examples that occur in the history of science and art, showing the slow progress of mankind in following up known principles, or extracting from acknowledged facts every possible advantage. ”

“ For, in proportion as the gas-lights are more or less generally adopted in all towns of the country, the consumption of oil and tallow will be diminished, and the impost on those articles become less productive; and when this takes place, Government, no doubt, will share in the profits, by levying a tax on the new lights. The Exchequer will thus have nothing to fear; as one branch of the revenue fails, another, and a more productive one, will supply its place. ”

“ The soundest principles of political [141] economy must condemn the practice of fitting out vessels to navigate the polar seas for oil, if we can extract a superior material for procuring light at a cheaper rate from the produce of our own soil.
Indeed the fisheries will find ample encouragement, and the consequence of lighting our streets with gas can prove injurious only to our continental friends, one of whose staple commodities, tallow, we shall then have less occasion to purchase.
There will be less waste indeed, but a greater consumption of coal. ”

“ This fact is so evident, that any body who wishes to make the experiment before recommended, will find that much more bright coal goes to the dust-hole of the poor man, than to the dust-hole of a rich family, where, the fire-place being large, the small coal has more chance of burning.
The loss is still greater to the poor, in consequence of the inferior sorts of coal which are sold to them. If it is the light sort, it burns too quick, and they consume double the quantity; if the strong sort, it burns too slow, and is nearly as wasteful ”

“ It was a strange notion of Rousseau to maintain that mankind were happier when they resembled wild beasts, than with all the expanded knowledge of civilized life; and that the cultivation of their understanding had tended to degenerate their virtues. There can be no virtue but what is founded on a comprehensive estimate of the effects of human actions, and an animal under the guidance of instinct can form no such estimate. ”

“ We often see a flame suddenly burst from the densest smoke, and as suddenly disappear; and if a light be applied to the little jets that issue from the bituminous parts of the coal, they will catch fire, and burn with a bright flame. A considerable quantity of a gazeous fluid, capable of affording light and heat continually escapes up the chimney, whilst another part is occasionally ignited, and exhibits the phenomena of the flame and light of the fire.
The theory of the production of gas-light is therefore analogous to the action of a lamp or candle. ”

“ After considering the facts so far detailed, many other advantages, connected with the gas-light illumination, will naturally suggest themselves to the reader. I have endeavoured merely to point out the leading characters of the new lights, as they are at present. Ingenious men may speculate from what has been done to what remains to be effected, which, no doubt, will embrace objects of the greatest utility and most extended national importance. The public attention is awakened to the new properties of coal, and will not rest till they are extensively applied to economical purposes. ”

“ One of the most obvious applications of the gas-light illumination unquestionably consists in lighting streets, shops and houses; and let it be observed that as this is found safe and economical, it proves all that the most ardent friends of the gas-light system can desire. For in contending with the common mode of lighting the streets and shops, the new lights must beat out of the market the cheapest of all artificial lights ”

“ The same engineer has invented a machine, which both measures and registers, in the absence of the observer, the quantity of gas delivered by any pipe communicating with a gas-light main. The machine occupies a space of about two feet by one foot, and, if put up in a room, house, or other place, where gas is burnt, will, at any time, by mere inspection, give an account of the quantity of gas consumed in that place during any given time. ”

“ Indeed such clamour scarcely ever fails to be made when the extension of machinery and the abridgement of labour or the application of inanimate powers are considered. On such occasions, it is stated by certain humane but mistaken objectors, that the scheme of mechanical and chemical improvement is pointed against the human species—that it tends to drive them out of the system of beneficial employment—that the introduction of machinery is injurious to the labouring class of society, by abridging their work. Two creatures offer themselves for employment and support—a man and a horse. ”

“ Those who are familiar with the subject will readily allow, that there is no more risk [153] in the action of a gas-light machinery, properly constructed, than there is in the action of a steam-engine, built on just principles.
The manufacture of the coal-gas requires nothing more than what the most ignorant person, with a common degree of care and attention, is competent to perform. The heating of the gas-furnace, the charging of the retorts with coal, the closing them up air-tight, the keeping them red-hot, and discharging them again, are the only operations required in this art ”

“ The heat produced by gas-lights must be observed by every one who has had an opportunity [112] of attending to it in the most superficial manner, and the reason why gas-lights produce more heat than oil or candle-light will not appear strange to our chemical readers (and who is there now that does not know something of chemistry?) when it is considered that the gas-light flame condenses more air than the flame of oil and tallow, and consequently must produce more heat. ”

“ There is no escape of combustible matter unconsumed, which is so great a nuisance [101] in all our common lights. The products of the combustion are water and carbonic acid gas [21] . The accurate and elegant experiments of Dr. W. Henry have shewn in the most satisfactory manner, that considerably less carbonic acid is produced by the flame of coal-gas, than by that of oil, tallow, or wax [22] , which [102] sufficiently refutes the absurd notions that have been circulated respecting the pernicious effects of gas-lights. ”