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several others, on a similar plan, for different individuals in Birmingham and its vicinity, and one of them for I. Spooner, esq., and Co., at Park Mill, to light the works, where it has been continually and sucessfully employed for twenty years, and now remains in its original form.

Mr. Pemberton had not only a taste for philosophical and chemical pursuits, but he possessed great fertility of invention, as well as much practical skill as a mechanic; and what he devised he could adroitly and admirably execute.* In every branch of science he was in the habit of making experiments, and, among others, coal gas had engaged his particular attention. From his general knowledge of the manufactures of Birmingham, he was soon aware of the variety of useful pur

* Mr. Pemberton is the person alluded to in the evidence of Mr. Watt to the committee of the House of Commons, in 1809, as the manufacturer of gas apparatus at Birmingham. Perhaps it was Mr. Murdoch's exhibition at Soho that first induced Mr. P. to pay particular attention to the subject of coal gas; but it is certainly a fact that he had bestowed a good deal of time in experimenting upon it previously to his engaging in the manufacture of gas apparatus. Often have I heard it observed that he never undertook to make any article but he introduced some improvement. He has since applied himself to the staining of glass; and his son has recently put up a splendid painted window at St. Mary's Hall, Coventry.

poses to which coal gas might be applied. Early in the year 1808 he constructed and fixed an apparatus, that was applicable to several uses, for Mr. Benjamin Cook, a manufacturer of brass tubes, gilt toys, and other articles, in which a great deal of soldering was required. This answered its end so well that Mr. Cook gave an account of it in Nicholson's Journal, but without naming the person who had the merit of contriving and erecting it.* In the course of the same year he erected several others, for different manufacturers, and to serve for various purposes; but soon after this he discontinued the business of manufacturing gas apparatus. As he was always readily communicative of the knowledge he possessed, he enabled others to avail themselves of his acquisitions and inventions, so that they sometimes converted them to their own advantage, and took to themselves the merit that was due to him. But how often has artful effrontery, or unfeeling selfish

* Mr. Cook's first letter is dated November 22, 1808 Nich. Journal, Vol. XXI. p. 291; and in it he offers to send Mr. N. drawings and descriptions of the apparatus. His second letter bears the date of December 27, 1808, Nich. Journal, Vol. XXII. page 145.-Was not the silver medal given to Mr. Cook in 1810, by the Society of Arts, for the drawing and description of this very apparatus? It certainly corresponds with Mr. Pemberton's in its plan and arrangement.

ness, obtained the applause, and secured the reward, which talents and virtue only ought to have received! In the year 1809, Mr. Pemberton furnished an ironmonger of London with much valuable information relative to Gas-lighting; and there is some reason to presume that this person was the first in the metropolis who made it a profitable object of speculation.

CHAPTER VI.

MR. MURDOCH'S APPLICATION OF COAL GAS TO LIGHT MESSRS. PHIILIPS AND LEE'S MANUFAC

TORY.

MR. CLEGG'S PLAN OF

APPARATUS COMMUNICATED TO THE SOCIETY OF ARTS.

In the year 1808, Mr. Murdoch communicated to the Royal Society a very interesting account of his successful application of coal gas to lighting the extensive establishment of Messrs. Phillips and Lee, of Manchester. For this communication, he had Count Rumford's gold medal presented to him; the paper was inserted in their transactions, and copied into various periodical journals, so that its contents were widely circulated. As it contained more useful and accurate information than had heretofore been

published on the subject, it attracted a proportionate degree of attention, and probably led to important consequences, for it tended to prove, by facts and calculations, the real advantages attendant upon the use of gas. Mr. Murdoch did not, in this instance, imitate Mr. Winsor, who was incessantly calling upon the public to credit him for the chance of millions of profit, on the faith of his own assertions of the secret results of his "official experiments" ;* but Mr. Murdoch gave a simple, minute, and perspicuous detail of particulars which demonstrated the utility of his plans and the success of his exertions. His statements evinced that gas was preferable to all the usual modes of lighting by

* The following is a part of one of Mr. Winsor's advertisements in 1807: "Official experiments proved one chaldron of coal to contain £23. 2s. in value, which gives above 242 millions for the yearly consumption of the realm. The estimated savings are only rated at £114,845,294, all costs of carbonising, &c., deducted; and if the company only realize one-tenth of this reduced sum, each £5 deposit will secure to the subscribers £570 per annum. Wonderful as this may appear, the estimates and experiments will stand the test of the best calculators and chemists." Another part of his scheme was to impose a tax upon coals, in order to promote the use of his gas and coke; this he calculated would produce a revenue of £10,751,000 per annum to the govern

ment.

lamps or candles, not only as respects the quantity of light, but also the expense and facility of its management; and as he united great practical with scientific knowledge, this clear representation of the effects of his labours produced an impression very favourable to Gas-lighting. This was the first successful attempt of the kind, of which the circumstances had been accurately and minutely related; and as the narration is remarkable for precision, and contains much useful information, it may be desirable that Mr. Murdoch's own recital should be given :

"The whole of the rooms of the cotton mill of Mr. Lee at Manchester, which is, I believe, the most extensive in the united kingdom, as well as its counting-houses and store-rooms, and the adjacent dwelling-house of Mr. Lee, are lighted with gas from coal. The total quantity of light used during the hours of burning has been ascertained by a comparison of shadows, to be about equal to the light which 2500 mould candles, of six to the pound, would give; each of the candles with which the comparison was made consuming four-tenths of an ounce (175 grains) of tallow per hour.

"The gas-burners are of two kinds; the one is upon the principle of the Argand lamp, and resembles it in appearance; the other is a small curved tube with a conical end, having three cir

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