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CHAPTER V.

DR. HENRY EXHIBITS THE MODE OF USING COAL GAS IN HIS LECTURES AT MANCHESTER. MR. CLEGG AND MR. JOSIAH PEMBERTON COMMENCE MANUFACTURERS OF GAS APPARATUS.

The application of coal gas to the purposes of artificial illumination at this period had excited a high degree of curiosity. At the latter end of the year 1804 Mr. (now Dr.) William Henry delivered a course of lectures on chemistry at Manchester,* in which he shewed the mode of producing the gas from coal, and the facility and advantage of

* Dr. Henry published his introductory lecture, which was soon afterwards followed by a small manual, entitled an "Epitome of Chemistry," in which its principles were clearly explained, and many interesting experiments familiarly detailed. This admirable little work conduced at that period in a high degree to diffuse a taste for chemistry, by rendering a knowledge of it easily accessible. By gradual additions and improvements it has necessarily increased in size, but it formed the ground-work of his present Elements of Experimental Chemistry, in 2 vols. 8vo. A little before this period Dr. Stancliffe delivered, at Birmingham, a course of lectures on chemistry, in which he exhibited and explained the inflammable and explosive properties of the gases. He afterwards engaged in gas-light speculations.

its use, as a material for yielding light. On this occasion, among other interesting experiments illustrative of the subject, he exhibited the manner of burning it by an Argand lamp, on the plan adopted by Mr. Murdoch at Soho. His lectures tended to attract attention to the subject, and probably occasioned Gas-lighting to be introduced into some large concerns in that town and its vicinity.

Though the use of coal gas, as a substitute for other substances affording light, had hitherto been very limited, and only occasional, the period was approaching when the public were to be enabled to form a better estimate of its value, by a more distinct display of its importance and utility. The attention bestowed upon the subject by some eminent chemists had a very powerful effect in promoting the plan of Gas-lighting; and the first and most prominent of these was Dr. William Henry, of Manchester, who analyzed the composition and investigated the properties of carburetted hydrogen gas with that careful regard to accuracy which usually characterizes his inquiries. His experiments were not only numerous, but were made upon a variety of substances; and having obtained the gas from wood, peat, different kinds of coal, oil, wax, &c., he endeavoured to estimate the relative value of each, for the purposes of yielding light. From different experiments on

various compounds of hydrogen and carbon, he shewed, to a considerable extent, what were the properties which chiefly constituted the illuminating power of carburetted hydrogen; and, moreover, by connecting the theory of its combustion with that of other substances from which artificial light was derived, he was enabled to ascertain what were the principal circumstances on which depended its superior capacity for affording light. The objects of his pursuit were very important; and his valuable labours have been eminently advantageous to the art of Gas-lighting. His ingenious experiments have materially conduced to the improvement of the processes by which the gas is produced, as well as purified from whatever it may contain that is offensive to the smell or injurious to health.

The results of Dr. Henry's experiments were published in Nicholson's Journal, 1805 ; * and in

* Various other papers, written by Dr. Henry, on this subject are inserted in the Philosophical Transactions for. 1808, 1820, 1824; Vol. III. of the second series of the Memoirs of the Philosophical Society of Manchester, or Annals of Philosophy, Vol. XV. A summary view of the information they contain will be found in his Elements of Experimental Chemistry, 10th edition, 1826. The Monthly Mag. for April, 1805, contains a letter from Mr. Northern, of Leeds, in which he gives an account of some experiments

proportion as Gas-lighting occupied more of the attention of scientific men, the illuminating and other qualities of the gas became more frequently the subject of discussion. The advantages and inconveniences attendant on its use, as a medium of light, were rigidly scrutinized; and every examination rendered its importance and utility more strikingly evident.

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In this year Mr. Samuel Clegg, having left Soho, directed his attention to the construction of gaslight apparatus; and the first he erected was at the cotton mill of H. Lodge, esq., near Halifax, in Yorkshire. At a future period it will appear, how greatly his zealous exertions, practical knowledge, and ingenious contrivances, not only contributed to improve the practice, but to give an impulse to the more general adoption of this mode of illumination.

Moreover, about this period coal gas was applied to some other uses besides that of affording light; and, early in the year 1806, Mr. Josiah Pemberton, a very intelligent and ingenious man, having employed himself for some time before in the contrivance and construction of gas apparatus, exhibited the gas lights in a variety of forms, and

on coal gas, with a description of his apparatus for producing it, and his application of it to the purposes of affording

with great brilliance, at the front of his manufactory, in one of the principal streets of Birmingham. His apparatus was very simple in its construction and arrangement, and consisted of a cast-iron vessel, similar in form to a common cottage pot. It would contain from fifteen to thirty pounds of coal, and was set in brick-work in the same manner as a common boiler. A strong cover was fitted to its top, to which the pipe was attached to convey the gas as it was produced. The gas passed through a square cistern, which contained water; and this cistern was divided by several partitions, so adjusted that the gas was obliged to ascend and descend in its passage through the water, to be well condensed and washed before it arrived at the gasometer, which was suspended by means of a weight in a large wooden vat. The pipes which conducted the gas to the burners, were made of tinned iron or copper, and the burners varied as they were intended for lighting, or for soldering. The first that he erected in the way of business was for Mark Saunders, esq., an eminent button manufacturer, and its purpose was not only to light his manufactory, but also to afford the necessary heat for soldering the shanks of buttons. It so completely attained its object that it has been in constant use ever since, and has required very few repairs. In the same and the following year he also erected

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