divert strangers or friends, I have frequently taken one of these bladders and pricked a hole therein with a pin, and compressing gently the bladder near the flame of a candle till it once took fire, it would then continue flaming till all the spirit was compressed out of the bladder; which was the more surprising, because no one could discern any difference in the appearance between these bladders and those which are filled with common air."

By this discovery of Dr. Clayton, some of the most striking and valuable properties of coal gas are displayed; but he seems to have entertained no suspicion of the useful purposes to which the gas has since been applied. And remarkable as were the circumstances which he has so minutely and accurately related, it does not appear that they attracted any particular notice at the time of their publication.

In 1767, the subject engaged the attention of Dr. Richard Watson, (afterwards Bishop of Llandaff,) who published the result of his researches, in the second volume of his Chemical Essays. His experiments shew that he examined the products arising from the distillation of pit-coal with great care, and he has described them with his usual exactness. In his process he permitted the gas to ascend through curved tubes, and he particularly notices its great inflam

mability, as well as elasticity; he also observed, that it retained the former property after it had passed through a great quantity of water. After detailing a variety of interesting facts and calculations, respecting the quantities of coke, tar, &c., produced from various kinds of coal, he gave several useful queries to excite others to investigate the subject with a view to farther discoveries.* From his habit of acute and vigilant observation, and his general endeavours to render his experiments subservient to utility in the arts, it may, perhaps, excite some surprise, that the uses to which the inflammability of the coal gas was applicable, should not have suggested itself to his penetrating mind. But as the voyager, when in the search of unknown regions, has often approached very near to an interesting point, without having the felicity to discover it; so has it occurred to the scientific explorer of nature in

* The publication of Dr. Watson's experiments on coal, excited others to apply themselves to the subject in the coal districts of various parts of the kingdom, for the purpose of extracting the tar; and probably occasioned Lord Dundonald to make those experiments on which his patent was taken out for manufacturing mineral tar. In the year 1784, &c., a Mr. Diller exhibited in London and other large towns, what he denominated "Philosophical Fire Works," which were produced by the combustion of the inflammable gases, and they were deemed a great curiosity.

his diversified excursions among her unfrequented recesses. Indeed, how numerous are the discoveries which have resulted from experiments made rather with a view to private amusement, than in the serious pursuit of any important object! Yet many of these have occasionally been productive of momentous consequences to mankind; and how remarkably has this proved to be the case with regard to the uses and application of coal gas!

CHAPTER IV.

THE APPLICATION OF COAL GAS AS A SUBSTITUTE

FOR LAMPS AND CANDLES, FOR THE PURPOSE OF LIGHTING, BY MR. MURDOCH. THE FIRST PUBLIC EXHIBITIONS OF MR. WINDsor.

Hitherto we have had only a faint glimpse of that beautiful light which, at a future period, was destined to be exhibited in such splendour, and to be so extensively subservient to the public benefit.* But we now approach the dawn of a

* It has been boldly but justly asserted of Dr. Franklin, that "he snatched the lightning from the heavens;” and perhaps no one ever excelled him in the ready application of philosophical discoveries to useful purposes; but though his suggestions and conjectures always evinced great sagacity

most luminous era, when, by the labours of a few men of great intellectual endowments, chemistry was to assume, as it were, a new form, and to be entitled to a higher rank amongst the sciences, not only as regarded the utility and importance of its processes, but the greater certainty of their results. The elements of the most subtile bodies were to be scrutinized by the genius, sagacity, and persevering industry of Black, Priestley, Lavoisier, Cavendish, and other superior minds, who disclosed to human perception some of those astonishing though apparently simple principles which pervade and operate incessantly through the universal range of all existing bodies. How zealous and persevering the application of these ardent votaries of science, whose diversified ingenuity enabled them to follow nature into her secret recesses, and to develope the potent and subtile principles by which matter is so curiously, beautifully, and variously modified! This was perhaps the most brilliant epoch in the annals of science; for, by the philosophical perspicacity of a few individuals, in the course of a few years, greater discoveries were made, the arts of civilized

and ingenuity, he did not anticipate the probability of such a contrivance as gas lights, when he published his witty and sarcastic "Economical Project" for saving candles by using the light of the sun.

man were more extensively improved, and, consequently, society more essentially benefited, than had heretofore been effected in any similar portion of time.

However, both art and science are in their nature necessarily progressive; and whatever impulse may be given to them by the powers of genius, or the efforts of human industry, perfection can be attained only by degrees. Thus the advantages to be derived from the useful qualities of coal gas were not obvious to those who first discovered them; and many years elapsed before they were distinctly perceived and duly appreciated. Mr. Murdoch, of Soho,* has the singular merit of being the person who first applied this

* Soho, near Birmingham was an establishment as singular in its kind as it was extensive and various in its objects. It may be denominated a kind of theatre, to which men of genius were invited and resorted from every civilized country, to exercise and display their talents. The perfection of the manufacturing arts was the great and constant aim of its liberal and enlightened proprietors, Messrs. Boulton and Watt; and whoever resided there was surrounded by a circle of scientific, ingenious, and skilful men, at all times ready to carry into effect the inventions of each other. Mr. Murdoch, Mr. Southern, Mr. Clegg, and Mr. Henry Creighton, the author of the excellent article on Gas Lights" in the last Supplement to the Encyclopedia Brittanica, were residents at Soho.

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