1669 Shirley writes of his gas generation and illumination experiments in Trans. of Royal Society . Streets of Paris lit by candles set in glass boxes, by Royal decree. Nicolas Denys, French explorer with rights from Louis XIV, publishing at Paris, describes coals on the island of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. No further details. 1679 Jesuit explorer Father Hennepin reports existence of coal in Illinois .
Berlin has oil-fired street lamps.
1684 John Clayton experiments with natural gas at Sir Thomas Shirley's gas spring. City of London places oil street lamps before every tenth house. Copyright 2000 by the Allen W. Hatheway, PhD Reproduction in whole or part in any form or medium is prohibited without permission. This site is in no way affiliated with the University of Missouri.